Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft grounded after fuel switch moves from run to cutoff
The airline also noted that it had earlier inspected fuel control switches across its entire Boeing 787 fleet in compliance with a DGCA directive and found no defects at the time.
PTC News Desk: An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been grounded after a pilot reported that the aircraft’s left fuel control switch twice failed to remain in the ‘run’ position and moved to ‘cutoff’ during engine start-up, an airline spokesperson said. The aircraft was operating flight AI 132 from London’s Heathrow to Bengaluru on Monday.
The spokesperson said the issue was flagged by one of the pilots, following which the aircraft was immediately grounded and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) was roped in to examine the concern on a priority basis. Boeing, responding to the development, said it would defer the matter to the airline.
Air India said the issue has been reported to the civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The airline also noted that it had earlier inspected fuel control switches across its entire Boeing 787 fleet in compliance with a DGCA directive and found no defects at the time.
Reiterating its commitment to safety, the airline said passenger and crew safety remains its top priority.
The development comes in the backdrop of the July 2025 preliminary report into the Air India Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people. Investigators had found that moments after takeoff, the aircraft’s engine fuel control switches were briefly turned off, cutting fuel supply to the engines.
Fuel control switches regulate the flow of fuel to an aircraft’s engines and are used by pilots to start or shut down engines on the ground, or to manually shut down or restart engines during flight in case of an engine failure.