Air India Terminates Cabin Crew For ‘Falsifying Critical Information’ During Probe

Air India on Friday said it sacked two senior flight attendants for misconduct and for falsifying critical information during an internal probe.

This statement came after media reports claimed that the airline dismissed them for refusing to change their account of a technical fault in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner door.

The airline clarified that the investigation started after an emergency slide deployed while opening the aircraft door post-landing.

The incident happened on May 14 last year after the Mumbai-London flight AI-129 landed at Heathrow Airport and passengers had disembarked.

According to reports, the two former flight attendants claimed that the door was opened in manual mode, but the slide raft still deployed.

Slides only deploy when the door is in armed or automatic mode, the report added.

Air India stated that both employees got multiple chances to revise their statements, which may have given inadvertently.

The airline’s investigation proved that the slide could not have deployed unless someone had armed the door. It based this on data, images, videos, and third-party expert analysis.

Airline slams attempt to link case to AI171 crash

Air India criticised the former employees for linking this case to the recent AI171 tragedy.

The airline said they were repeating falsehoods that the investigation had already disproved.

“It is regrettable that they are using the AI171 tragedy to push a false narrative,” the airline said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said it has not yet decided whether to send the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or digital flight data recorder (DFDR) of the crashed AI171 abroad for analysis.

The ministry urged all stakeholders to avoid speculation and let the investigation move forward with seriousness and professionalism.

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