MUMBAI: Two senior Air India flight attendants have written to PM Modi, claiming they were terminated from service by the airline after they refused to change their statement about a technical problem with a Boeing 787 door last year. They alleged the Dreamliner’s door had malfunctioned as the slide raft deployed, though the door was opened in the “manual mode”. Slide rafts deploy when a door is opened in “armed” or “automatic mode”.The incident, they claimed, occurred on May 14, 2024, after the Mumbai-London B787 (VT-ANQ) operating flight AI-129 docked at Heathrow and the passengers disembarked.

The incident, they say, was initially corroborated in writing by the pilot and cabin-in-charge. “However, to our utter shock and surprise when we told (the AI management) the truth that the door was in manual position when opened, we were threatened with termination,” the letter alleged on Wednesday. The former senior AI flight attendants wrote to the PM that after refusing to revise their statements on the malfunctioning Dreamliner door, they were served show-cause notices and dismissed within 48 hours—exactly one year before the June 12 Ahmedabad crash which killed 272 people.“We refused to change our statements despite considerable pressure exerted on us by higher authorities,” the letter alleged, naming three officials. “However later the commander changed his statement by stating that he was not looking when the door was opened,” it alleged.At Heathrow, AI crew disembark from a different door. Accordingly, the pilots and crew gathered at door L4 last year in May. The two flight attendants, responsible for door opening, carried out the checklist to confirm it was in the manual position, said the letter. But the slide raft deployed when the door was opened.

The letter alleges Air India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suppressed the May 14, 2024, incident and other similar occurrences involving Dreamliners. The crew claim DGCA launched only an “informal inquiry” despite the gravity of safety issues raised, and no report has been shared since. They also allege key witnesses present during the slide deployment incident were deliberately excluded from the probe. Both crew members have served Air India for over two decades. Their complaint was filed with Central Vigilance Commission last year.‘Cabin crew members were terminated for their misconduct and behaviour’Air India in a statement said, “The cabin crew members were terminated for their misconduct and behaviour and continuing to falsify critical information during the course of an investigation. The said investigation was launched after an emergency slide was activated while opening the aircraft door post landing. The two former employees were given multiple fair opportunities to reconsider their statements, which may have been given inadvertently, as revealed in the investigations undertaken.“The cabin crew too have said in their letter that they were given an opportunity to change their statement, which would mean to state that the door was opened in auto mode, the mode in which the slide raft deploys. It would have then been an error on part of the cabin crew and not a problem with the aircraft door. The crew did not change their statement and they were terminated.“It was clear in the investigation that the slide could not have been activated unless the door was in disarmed/manual mode. This was corroborated by relevant data, images and video evidence as well as third party experts,” the statement said further.Air India possibly issued an erroneous statement here, because the slide draft is deployed when the door is opened in auto mode and not in manual mode. In fact, that was the very issue with the door, the statement given by the cabin crew said that the slide draft deployed despite opening the door in manual mode. The possible error was brought to the notice of the airline spokesperson.“It is regrettable that the former cabin crew members are using the tragedy of AI171 to further repeat their falsehood which has been clearly established in our investigation. Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to the safety protocols and standard practices,” the statement said further.