The airline has decided to inspect fuel control switches after a reported malfunction on an aircraft in London on Sunday
Air India has ordered the inspection of its fuel control switches on its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft following a glitch.
The airline had grounded one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on Monday after the crew reported a malfunction with the locking mechanism of the fuel control switch. The glitch was observed during a flight from London to Bengaluru on Sunday, according to Indian media reports.
“Following the reported defect involving a fuel control switch on one of the B787 aircraft, our engineering team has escalated the matter to Boeing for priority evaluation,” Air India’s Senior Vice President for Flight Operations, Manish Uppal wrote in an email to pilots, informing them about an inspection drive.
An Air India Boeing 787-8 crash in the city of Ahmedabad in Western India last June, which left 260 dead, had raised concerns about a probable switch malfunction.
Air India Orders Fleet-Wide Checks On Dreamliner Fuel Switches – Report
The move comes after a malfunction was reported on a flight from London Heathrow to Bengaluru, sources told PTI.
An Air India pilot flagged the defect after the aircraft landed in Bengaluru on Monday… https://t.co/GlUdhlaL82 pic.twitter.com/gSAUbgClUV
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) February 3, 2026
“Left fuel control switch slips from on to cut off when pushed down slightly..It does not lock in its position,” the pilot of the London-Bengaluru aircraft said in his report, according to the Times of India.
The airline had also ordered inspections after the fatal crash of a Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad last year.
The Tata group-backed airline has 33 Boeing 787 aircraft, comprising 26 Boeing 787-8s and seven Boeing 787-9s.
The families of four passengers killed in the Ahmedabad crash have filed a lawsuit against US aerospace companies Boeing and Honeywell, alleging that a design flaw allowed the fuel supply to be cut off, causing complete engine failure.
February 03, 2026 at 08:30PM
RT