Air India on Friday addressed claims surrounding the dismissal of two senior cabin crew members, clarifying that their termination was due to misconduct and falsification of key information during an internal investigation &mdash; not because they refused to alter their statements about a technical issue.
The airline&rsquo;s response followed media reports alleging that the crew members were fired for not revising their account of a door malfunction on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in May last year. According to those reports, the crew had stated that the emergency slide was deployed even though the door was opened in "manual mode."
Air India, however, said the crew had been found to have misrepresented facts during the investigation that followed the accidental deployment of an emergency slide after the aircraft landed. The incident took place on May 14, 2023, after flight AI-129 from Mumbai to London had docked at Heathrow and passengers had disembarked.
The airline emphasized that the deployment of the slide was not possible unless the door was in "armed" mode, and not in manual mode as claimed. &ldquo;This was confirmed by image and video evidence, data records, and analysis from independent experts,&rdquo; the airline said.
Air India noted that the two dismissed crew members had been given several opportunities to review and correct their statements, which might have been made in error. &ldquo;Instead, they continued to provide false information, despite clear findings from the investigation,&rdquo; the airline added.
The airline also criticized the former crew members for invoking the recent tragedy involving Air India flight AI171 to publicize their claims, saying that doing so undermines the seriousness of the incident.
Separately, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated that no final decision has been made regarding whether to send the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight data recorder (DFDR) from the AI171 crash abroad for analysis. The Ministry called on all parties to avoid speculation and respect the integrity of the ongoing investigation. Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by the Benefit News editorial team and is published directly from the IANS news feed.

Crew terminated for falsifying details during Boeing 787 slide deployment investigation

Air India sacks crew for false door glitch claims

Crew terminated for falsifying details during Boeing 787 slide deployment investigation

June 20, 2025 | 19:27 IST