NEW DELHI: Airbus is sending consultants to New Delhi on Tuesday (Aug 11) to help investigators probing an Air India flight that plunged dramatically, injuring 17 in a terrifying mid-air ordeal, the corporate mentioned.
The probe into the flight comes as “confirmatory” psychoactive drug test results are awaited for the chief pilot.
The Airbus A320, carrying 137 passengers and eight crew, misplaced round 91m on Aug 4 whereas flying from Phuket in Thailand to New Delhi, earlier than stabilising and touchdown safely.
Air India, in an announcement after the aircraft landed, mentioned it had “skilled a sudden lack of altitude”, including that it was “totally cooperating with the investigation, and the plane producer has additionally been notified”.
India’s civil aviation ministry mentioned that the “prevalence has been categorised as a Critical Incident and is underneath investigation by the Plane Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)”.
An Airbus spokesperson mentioned that the jet producer was offering “technical help” to Indian investigating authorities.
Indian newspapers have broadly reported that the flight skilled a number of technical snags simply earlier than it skilled a sudden loss in altitude – however neither the service, Indian authorities, or Airbus have supplied official affirmation.
“A staff of specialists is being dispatched to help with the investigation,” an Airbus spokesperson mentioned on Monday.
“Airbus is offering technical help to the related investigating authorities. We’re actively supporting the airline and can present additional info because it turns into out there,” they added.
Air India has mentioned it “can not touch upon any findings or observations associated to the investigation”.
Eight passengers and 4 cabin crew members had been admitted to hospitals after touchdown within the Indian capital.
India’s aviation ministry mentioned Sunday that after the flight landed, each pilots got customary “psychoactive substance screening check”.
It mentioned that the screening check of the pilot-in-command “indicated a consequence requiring confirmatory testing”, with samples despatched for evaluation. The ultimate report is but to be publicly launched.
Each pilots have been taken off the flying roster throughout the investigations.
The probe into the Phuket-New Delhi flight is the newest in a collection of challenges for Air India, which has struggled to execute a turnaround following a number of setbacks.
It has been hit laborious by disruptions attributable to conflict within the Center East disaster.
The most important blow to the airline’s picture got here in June 2025, when Air India Flight 171 – a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner – crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad, killing all however one of many 242 folks on board and 19 folks on the bottom.
The Indian service final week appointed former Ethiopian Airways chief Tewolde Gebremariam as its new chief government.
