Air India pilots voice concern over 26-year-old Airbus A320s

NEW DELHI: Voicing its concern over the 26-year-old fleet of Airbus A320s in the national carrier Air India, one of its pilots' union has sought grounding of these planes from aviation regulator DGCA.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), which represents erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots in the now combined entity Air India, has said the airline continues to fly these A320s even after snags being reported regularly.

"The classic A-320 aircrafts which are 26 years old (one of the oldest in the world) are being operated with repetitive snags endangering flight safety... DGCA should not permit AI to operate these lethal snag-prone classic aircrafts in lieu of passenger safety," ICPA stated in a letter to the DGCA last Thursday.

ICPA letter comes in the backdrop of a 24-year old Airbus A230 plane, operated by Lufthansa's budget arm Germanwings, crashing into a mountainside in the French Alps last week, killing all 150 people on board.

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