Air India checking fuel switches on its Boeing Dreamliners, memo says

Air India has begun checking the fuel switches on its Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, after one of its pilots reported a possible defect with the mechanism on one of the long-haul jets, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters.

The checks have not unearthed any issues so far and will not require grounding of the fleet, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. The carrier, owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has a fleet of 33 Boeing 787 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.

The airline's engineering team has escalated the matter to Boeing for "priority evaluation" after a potential switch defect in one plane, head of flight operations, Manish Uppal, said in the emailed memo. Boeing said on Monday it was supporting the airline's review.

An Air India spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Air India said on Monday it had grounded a Dreamliner after the pilot reported a possible problem with the fuel control switch on his plane.

Fuel switches were at the centre of last year's crash involving an Air India Dreamliner, which killed 260 people in Gujarat state, triggering tighter scrutiny of the airline. The switches regulate the flow of jet fuel into a plane's engines.

The switches are used by pilots to start or shut down engines on the ground or to manually shut down or restart engines if an engine failure occurs during a flight.