India just witnessed its worst aviation disaster in recent times. Shortly after takeoff, Air India Flight 171 crashed into the hostel block of a medical college in the Meghani Nagar neighbourhood of Ahmedabad in Gujarat on June 12. The plane rose to about 625 feet above the runway before gradually losing altitude while maintaining a roughly level and nose-up orientation. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Of the 242 people on board, only a single passenger survived. At least 39 people on the ground were also killed.
The crash was the first fatal aviation accident involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and was the type’s first hull loss. Aviation expert and former executive director of Air India, Jitender Bhargava talked to Surya S Pillai of The Statesman on the fatal incident, India’s growing travel demand, and the need to probe both perception and reality when it comes to such tragic episodes.
Q. As an expert, what lessons do you think should India learn from the Ahmadabad plane crash?
A. India, undoubtedly witnessed its worst air tragedy in Ahmedabad on 12 June. Across the world, airlines go through a troubling phase when their aircraft is involved in an accident. Questions are raised about the aircraft, its maintenance, or possibility of human error.There are as many causes identified as there are experts. Air India’s case has been no different. The reliability of the Dreamliner has been questioned even though 875 million passengers have flown on 4 million flights operated with this aircraft by several airlines. Every accident, irrespective of the airline involved, throws up numerous lessons for the aircraft manufacturer and the airline, but we should await the conclusion of the investigation before getting into the specifics.
Q. Increased urbanization is significantly impacting airport operations, particularly in major cities, making it difficult and expensive to expand existing airport runways or build new ones. Do you feel airports across the country are struggling to accommodate growing air travel demand?
A. In India, we have a combination of old and new airports. Several of the old airports have either been expanded or replaced with new ones to meet future demand. As air traffic has been growing rapidly, many of the new airports may have reached their saturation. But the government is already on the job by building new terminals or airports. In recent years, we have seen airports coming up in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Noida, and even in Tier 2 cities. So, the government is definitely building up infrastructure to cater to its people’s growing air travel demand. Yes, increasing urbanization is indeed a reality. For instance, Delhi airport was far away from the city earlier, but today the city dwellers are surrounding the airport. But can you stop it? The answer is no. We have to learn to live with it. Basically, international air services were operated from a restricted number of cities earlier. But today, even smaller cities like Madurai, Kozhikode, Kochi, or Nagpur have airports facilitating international travel. It is also about decentralizing and decongesting the existing airport infrastructure.
Q. Air India operates around 37 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. There is a renewed clamour for scrutinizing the safety controls of the American aerospace company. Your comments.
A. Boeing Dreamliner aircraft were introduced in the market in 2011. I had myself mentioned in 2015 in my book “The Descent of Air India” that spare parts of the aircraft are not available, and two Dreamliners of Air India had been on the ground for 10 months each. A whistleblower had also cast aspersions, but one should judge the aircraft with its safety and flying track record more than anything else. As a matter of fact, many airlines are operating Dreamliner with an unblemished track record till the Ahmadabad plane crash. Having said that, I admit Boeing has not covered itself with glory in the past decade. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered greater scrutiny into the Air India-controlled Dreamliners. It is an assuring step for those affected by the plane crash as well as others. Air India has also cancelled many of its international flights operated by Dreamliner not because they are faulty, but to make them available to DGCA probe for enhanced scrutiny.
Q. After the plane crash, people want to know if there are ‘safe’ seats in an aircraft. Apparently, there is a surge in demand for emergency exit seats? Is there any basis to this theory?
A. You can do a study of 10-15 air accidents in the last decade or more. There are instances of people surviving irrespective of their seating arrangements. It purely depends on how a particular accident has taken place. If we talk about the sole survivor of the Ahmedabad plane crash, the emergency exit opened up due to the accident’s impact and he could jump down maybe. But is there only one emergency exit in the aircraft? What about the others who were seated at the other exits?
Q. The last fatal plane crash in India was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline’s low-cost arm. The airline’s Boeing-737 overshot a ‘table-top’ runway in Kerala, skidded and plunged into a valley, crashing nose-first into the ground and killing 21 people. As the former executive director of Air India, how do you look at the Tata group taking over the reins of the airlines and what should be the way forward?
A. Let me make it clear that it is not the management that matters. No management would operate a flight that is prone to safety risks. The aviation industry works on a 100 per cent surety-safety parameter and not even 99.99 per cent, whether it is government-owned or Tata-owned. As someone who has been associated with Air India, I believe this accident is a temporary setback for the Tata-owned company. Many airlines have gone through a similar drill, that is they have been questioned on the safety parameters, but they have all survived to grow like Air India will. One should not look at it as a one-off thing because airlines are judged on the basis of per million passengers flown, or accidents per million flights operated.
Q. What do you have to say on the government sending the black box of the crashed Air India plane to the US? Did India lack the facility prompt the move?
A. At this juncture, no airline or government will take a chance with a ‘damaged’ black box. They cannot afford to lose the crucial data stored in that device or fail to decode it. The Indian government is treading cautiously.