Air India de-rosters three cabin crew members for lapse in opening aircraft door at Bangalore airport

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Air India has de-rostered three cabin crew members for an erroneous approach in opening the door of a Boeing 777 aircraft that led to the auto-deployment of the emergency slides.

The incident happened with the Boeing 777 aircraft at Bangalore airport after it landed from San Francisco on September 15.

"The door of Air India's Boeing 777 aircraft that operated flight Al 176 from San Francisco to Bangalore on September 15 was opened in armed mode when the aircraft arrived at Bangalore airport. This is a serious safety violation," a source from the airline stationed at Bangalore airport told midday.

"As a result of this, the emergency slides automatically got deployed," the source added.

Another source at Banglore airport, who was present during the time of the incident, told midday, "Engineers were later called to remove the emergency slides."

A senior source stated, "Three cabin crew members have been de-rostered for the lapse and an internal probe has been ordered. The damaged emergency slides had to be replaced with a new set, resulting in the Bangalore-San Francisco flight getting delayed."

In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said, "On September 15, the crew operating flight 176 from San Francisco to Bangalore reported a technical issue with one of the doors not opening appropriately upon landing. The issue was promptly attended to and passengers disembarked, and the aircraft was subsequently cleared for operation."

Further, the airline said there was no damage to the aerobridge and added that "regulatory authorities have been informed as per procedure."