Two former senior flight attendants of Air India have accused the airline of retaliatory termination after they refused to alter their statements regarding a Boeing 787 Dreamliner door malfunction in 2024.
As reported by The Times of India, the former staffers have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention.
The incident allegedly occurred on 14 May, 2024, when flight AI-129 from Mumbai landed at Heathrow Airport in London. After passenger disembarkation, the emergency slide raft deployed unexpectedly as the L4 door was opened, despite the crew asserting it was set to manual mode.
Slide rafts typically deploy when aircraft doors are opened in ‘armed’ or ‘automatic’ mode. The attendants, responsible for opening the door, claimed they had followed protocol, ensuring the door was in manual mode.
According to The Times of India, the whistleblowers’ letter stated that their version of events was initially supported in writing by both the pilot and the cabin-in-charge. However, the attendants allege that when they stood by their statements, they were pressured to revise them and threatened with dismissal.
They were subsequently issued show-cause notices and terminated within 48 hours. The termination, they noted, occurred exactly one year before the fatal Ahmedabad crash on 12 June, 2025, which killed 272 people, implying a broader culture of safety neglect.
The whistleblowers further alleged that Air India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) failed to conduct a proper investigation into the door malfunction. They claim the DGCA only carried out an “informal inquiry” and excluded critical witnesses from the process.
Despite the severity of the safety concern, no official report on the incident has been released. The crew had also filed a formal complaint with the Central Vigilance Commission in 2024.
In response to the allegations, Air India issued a statement asserting that the employees were dismissed for misconduct and for “falsifying critical information” during the investigation.
The airline claimed the two had been given multiple opportunities to amend their statements, which may have initially been provided “inadvertently.”
However, Air India’s initial statement included a factual error, stating that the slide could not have deployed unless the door was in “disarmed/manual” mode. This was later corrected to “armed” mode — consistent with established aircraft safety mechanisms and the cabin crew’s original testimony.
The crew maintains that the slide deployed despite the door being in manual mode, indicating a possible technical fault rather than human error. Their refusal to accept blame, they argue, led to their termination.
The letter also names three senior officials who allegedly exerted pressure on them to alter their accounts. One of the officials, they claim, changed his testimony, stating he was not observing the door at the time.
Both attendants had served Air India for over 20 years. They argue that their experience and service records were ignored in favour of preserving the airline’s reputation.
Air India, in its revised statement, said it remains committed to following all safety protocols and labelled the whistleblowers’ claims as “falsehoods.”
The airline criticised the former staff for allegedly using the AI171 crash tragedy to publicise their grievances.
The episode has raised significant concerns over whistleblower protections in India’s aviation industry, prompting broader discussions on regulatory transparency and aircraft safety protocols.
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