More than seven out of every ten aircraft in the Air India Group fleet have recurring technical defects, according to data presented in the Indian parliament on Thursday. Civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol told the Lok Sabha that inspectors identified repetitive deficiencies in 191 of the 267 aircraft operated by the group, the highest proportion among six airlines reviewed.
The data, based on surveillance and audit inspections by India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), covered 754 aircraft in total. Of these, 377 were flagged for recurring technical problems. IndiGo had 148 affected aircraft out of 405 examined, SpiceJet 16 out of 43, and Akasa Air 14 out of 32.
An Air India official told NDTV that most defects were low-priority Category D items, such as seats, tray tables, and screens, rather than systems critical to flight safety. The official said the airline had carried out checks across its fleet out of abundant caution, and that a retrofit programme for narrow-body aircraft over the next two years would address many issues.
The disclosure comes amid heightened scrutiny of India's aviation sector following recent safety events, including a fatal Air India Boeing 787 crash in June 2025 that killed 241 passengers and 19 people on the ground. In December 2025, IndiGo cancelled nearly 4,500 flights over crew duty rule changes.
The DGCA conducted 3,890 surveillance inspections, 56 regulatory audits, and 492 ramp inspections last year, along with 874 spot checks and 550 night surveillance inspections. The government has increased the number of technical officer roles in the DGCA from 637 in 2022 to 1,063 to strengthen regulatory capacity.
