New Delhi: Following the Ahmedabad crash, India’s aviation sector has seen a steady rise in defects in commercial aircraft. A parliamentary panel has flagged serious safety issues and called for the need for a fundamental restructuring of the country’s safety architecture, NDTV reported.
Between January 2025 and February 2026, a total of 754 commercial aircraft were inspected in the latest findings of the Standing Committee on Civil Aviation. Out of 754, as many as 377 aircraft had repeated technical faults. The report was based on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Air India and Air India Express top list of recurring technical faults
According to the reports, the majority of the setbacks were found in Air India and Air India Express. A total of 166 Air India aircraft were audited, and 137 had recurring technical defects. On the other hand, Air India Express, 54, had constant technical issues out of 101 aircraft inspected in the timeline.
A detailed DGCA audit was issued of Air India following the Ahmedabad crash, between July 1 and 4, 2025, and around 100 safety lapses were identified, including seven Level 1 violations requiring immediate corrective action.
According to the sources, the audit highlighted the gaps in recurrent pilot training for Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft, insufficient cabin crew detected on at least four international flights, and violations of flight duty time limitations.
A New Delhi-bound flight from Milan was delayed for over two hours, exceeding the permitted limit. The panel pointed out that Air India was issued nine show cause notices by the DGCA for safety concerns.
The DGCA imposed around Rs 1 crore on Air India for running an Airbus A320 on eight flights without a valid Airworthiness Review Certificate during December 2025.
The panel also cited a big concern in the aviation sector, as the vacancy rate has gone to 48.3 per cent. The committee questioned the DGCA on whether the body is adequately equipped to look into expanding the aviation sector with that much vacancy rate.
