Air India's systems must inspire confidence

When the Tata group regained control of loss-making Air India, it promised transformation through fleet renewal, technology, operational restructuring and a stronger customer experience. But aviation has one requirement that cannot be deferred while a turnaround takes place: Safety. Air India's FY26 losses more than doubled year-on-year ₹22,238 crore. Integrating airlines, modernising fleets, replacing legacy systems and building a global carrier require substantial capital and time. But financial losses are fundamentally different from failures that can affect passenger confidence. The June 2025 AI171 tragedy changed the conversation permanently. The Boeing 787 operating from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after take-off, killing 260 people. Audit findings A recent DGCA audit identified 51 safety-related findings at Air India, including issues involving training, rostering and simulator use. These findings were part of a regulatory audit and should not be presented as having caused or been directly connected to an incident. But they raise a legitimate institutional question: how effectively are safety systems identifying and correcting weaknesses before they become operational risks? The August 4 Phuket-Delhi incident makes that question particularly important. Air India flight AI2379, an Airbus A320, suffered a sudden loss of 300 feet of altitude, injuring passengers and crew. The decoded flight-data recorder showed a loss of hydraulic systems, resulting in the temporary loss of the aircraft's control surfaces for around four seconds before the hydraulic systems recovered. The issue is not simply what failed on August 4, but whether Air India can demonstrate that every relevant layer of the safety system was functioning as intended before the aircraft took off. Action taken The airline was also fined ₹1 crore after an aircraft operated eight passenger flights without a valid airworthiness certificate. Separately, the captain of the Phuket-Delhi flight reportedly tested positive for marijuana and was removed from duty pending investigation. The technical failure and the drug-test finding must not be conflated; there is no basis to say that one caused the other. But together with the continuing scrutiny of training, maintenance, certification and operational systems, they make the question of organisational controls unavoidable. The task is not simply to make the airline profitable or modernise its fleet. It is to establish a safety culture in which maintenance records are rigorous, compliance is non-negotiable, crew fitness is beyond question, technical warnings are investigated thoroughly and passengers are given transparent explanations when incidents occur. The Tata Group needs to demonstrate that when something goes wrong, its systems are strong enough to detect, investigate, correct and prevent recurrence. Reputation can create goodwill, but it cannot substitute for systems. The writer is Chairperson of Aviation Cargo at the Federation of Aviation Industry in India (FAII) Published on September 6, 2026