Air India Flight AI315 Catches Fire After Landing in Delhi: All Passengers Safe, DGCA Launches Probe
New Delhi, July 22, 2025 — In yet another setback to India’s national carrier, Air India, a serious incident involving Flight AI315 was reported on Monday evening when an auxiliary power unit (APU) of the aircraft caught fire shortly after landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi. Fortunately, all passengers and crew members were safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
The Incident: What Happened?
Flight AI315, operating on the Hong Kong–Delhi route, landed in the national capital and was taxiing towards its designated parking bay when smoke was observed near the aircraft’s tail. Airport ground staff immediately notified the flight crew and airport fire services.
According to a statement by Air India, the fire originated from the aircraft’s APU, a small engine located at the rear of the aircraft that powers onboard systems when the main engines are shut down. The fire was automatically detected by the onboard safety mechanisms, and the APU’s fire suppression system activated to extinguish it. Ground emergency services responded promptly and confirmed the fire was fully contained.
“All passengers had safely disembarked before the fire incident occurred. The crew followed standard procedures, and no injuries were reported,” the airline confirmed.
Aircraft Grounded, DGCA Orders Technical Probe
Following the incident, the aircraft was immediately grounded, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered a detailed technical investigation. A senior DGCA official confirmed that a team of inspectors had been dispatched to examine the aircraft and review maintenance records.
“Initial findings suggest the fire originated in the auxiliary power unit. We are conducting a full inspection to ascertain the cause and assess any systemic risks,” the official added.
Rising Scrutiny on Air India’s Safety Record
This incident comes at a critical time for Air India, which is facing intensified scrutiny following a series of recent technical failures and a deadly crash of AI-171 last month in Ahmedabad, which killed 279 people. The tragedy had already triggered a nationwide audit of Air India’s fleet, with several aircraft undergoing emergency inspections.
Aviation experts believe that the latest fire incident—though not life-threatening—adds to the growing concerns over the safety and reliability of Air India’s aircraft maintenance and inspection protocols.
“An APU fire post-landing is certainly not routine. While passengers were safe this time, it calls for a serious internal audit,” said an aviation analyst based in Mumbai.
Public Confidence and Regulatory Expectations
Despite quick containment and the absence of injuries, incidents like these erode public confidence, especially in the aftermath of the June crash. Social media was flooded with concerns from frequent fliers and aviation enthusiasts, many questioning whether India’s flag carrier was doing enough to ensure safety amid operational expansion.
In response, Air India reiterated its commitment to passenger safety and claimed its systems had functioned as designed, helping to prevent any escalation of the fire. The airline also stated that standard debriefing procedures were being carried out with both crew and maintenance staff.
A Cautionary Event with Broader Implications
The fire aboard Flight AI315 may not have resulted in casualties, but it underscores a serious vulnerability that demands attention. With the DGCA’s investigation underway, there is an urgent need for greater transparency and accountability—not just from Air India but from the entire civil aviation ecosystem in India.
The aviation sector is built on trust, and for Air India—now part of the Tata Group—the time has come to reassure passengers, improve oversight, and invest in reliability and safety engineering to prevent another potentially tragic incident.
A Deeper Dive into the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)
The auxiliary power unit (APU), though not as visible or commonly discussed as a plane’s main engines, plays a vital role in aircraft operation. Positioned in the tail section, the APU powers essential electrical and hydraulic systems, especially when the main engines are off during ground operations.
In the case of Flight AI315, the fire was traced to this unit moments after the plane docked at the gate. According to engineers familiar with Airbus A321 systems, such incidents are rare but not unheard of—especially if there’s leakage of flammable fluids, electrical faults, or overheating due to poor maintenance.
A senior aircraft technician at IGI airport, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated:
“An APU fire is serious. It may not endanger lives directly, but it points to systemic lapses—either in component fatigue, inspection cycles, or wiring integrity.”
Air India’s Maintenance Record Under the Scanner
This isn’t an isolated case. In the last 12 months, Air India has reported over a dozen technical snags across its narrow-body and wide-body fleet. While none resulted in loss of life (except the tragic AI-171 Dreamliner crash in June), the cumulative record has triggered alarms in both the airline industry and among passengers.
Key incidents under scrutiny:
- March 2025: A Delhi-bound flight from Singapore made an emergency return due to cockpit smoke.
- April 2025: A Dreamliner en route to Frankfurt experienced in-flight fuel leak.
- June 2025: AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad killed 279 passengers—one of the deadliest air disasters in India’s aviation history.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has since asked for a “line-by-line review” of Air India’s engineering audits. According to DGCA officials, “pattern detection” is now a focus—identifying recurring faults within aircraft models, suppliers, or specific airport maintenance stations.
Tata Group’s Responsibility and the Image of the Flag Carrier
Since the Tata Group’s acquisition of Air India in 2022, the airline has invested heavily in fleet expansion, technology upgrades, and staff recruitment. However, critics argue that safety investments have lagged behind brand-building and global route expansion.
Aviation analyst Parul D’Souza observed:
“The Tata Group inherited an airline riddled with systemic inefficiencies. But after two years, the excuse of legacy issues won’t suffice. Operational safety must catch up with branding efforts.”
Passengers and watchdog groups are now demanding that Tata-owned Air India release detailed safety audit reports publicly to restore trust. As one frequent flier posted on X (formerly Twitter):
“I want Air India to shine again. But no loyalty can overlook consistent technical failures.”
Regulatory Response and Policy Implications
Following the AI315 incident, the DGCA has issued a technical directive requiring all carriers operating Airbus A321s to conduct immediate inspections of their APU units, especially models older than 10 years.
A circular sent to maintenance heads reads:
“Any signs of corrosion, fluid leakage, or improper insulation in APU assemblies must be flagged immediately. Ground testing will be mandated every 50 cycles until further notice.”
Additionally, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is reviewing historical APU fire data to assess whether industry-wide policy changes are warranted—potentially revising maintenance intervals, component sourcing standards, or onboard detection systems.
Crew Preparedness and Passenger Experience
While technical systems ultimately contained the fire, the calm conduct of cabin crew deserves mention. According to eyewitnesses, flight attendants maintained order, instructed passengers clearly, and ensured a timely disembarkation before the APU fire escalated.
“We didn’t know anything was wrong,” said Manish Rawat, a returning business traveler. “Only after we were at baggage claim did we hear that a fire broke out. The crew didn’t panic, and that helped us stay calm.”
Experts believe that crew preparedness—honed through simulation drills and standard operating procedures—played a crucial role in averting chaos.
A Fragile Public Trust
Post-incident, many passengers are voicing fears over the frequency of Air India’s safety lapses. Travel forums and social media are buzzing with debates on whether the airline is safe enough for international operations.
A Change.org petition started by an Indian-origin doctor based in London titled “Ground Air India Until It’s Safe Again” has already gathered over 28,000 signatures in less than 24 hours. The campaign urges the Ministry of Civil Aviation to “take decisive, transparent actions before another disaster strikes.”
Moving Forward: Building a Culture of Zero-Error Tolerance
The path forward for Air India lies in building a culture of zero-error tolerance—where every technical fault is treated not as a statistical anomaly, but as a potential warning signal.
This involves:
- Transparent investigations into all incidents, not just high-profile ones.
- Timely replacement of ageing parts and aircraft.
- Public disclosure of maintenance reports.
- Independent audits by third-party aviation safety bodies.
Until then, each fire, snag, or aborted landing will raise the same uncomfortable question: “Is Air India safe?”
India’s Flag Carrier: A History Marred by Recurring Safety Incidents
While the recent AI315 APU fire incident did not result in casualties, it adds to a worrisome legacy of safety-related headlines surrounding Air India—especially in the post-pandemic aviation era.
Air India has long been revered for its historic contributions to Indian aviation. But over the past two decades, its name has also frequently appeared in accident investigation reports, technical snag registries, and aviation regulator advisories.
Key Incidents in Recent Memory:
- June 2025: Air India Flight AI-171 crashes in Ahmedabad during final approach. A reported fuel management error, compounded by crew miscommunication, led to 279 fatalities.
- August 2023: An engine fire forced an emergency landing in Frankfurt. No injuries, but raised concerns over ageing aircraft in the international fleet.
- December 2021: A mid-air pressurization issue on a flight to London led to crew manually deploying oxygen masks at cruising altitude.
These events have painted a pattern. Aviation experts now ask: Has India’s flagship airline truly adapted to the evolving global standards of safety culture, or is it still dragging the inertia of a bloated legacy system?
Post-Tata Transition: Promise vs Performance
When the Tata Group reacquired Air India in January 2022, there was palpable optimism across the industry. The Tatas, who originally founded the airline in 1932, were expected to restore not just brand glory but also technical integrity and operational excellence.
Over the past three years, Air India has:
- Placed a record-breaking order for 470 new aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
- Revamped uniforms, menus, branding, and customer interfaces.
- Introduced technology-led scheduling and loyalty programs.
Yet, operational safety—the airline’s most critical pillar—remains under pressure. An internal source from Air India’s engineering division confessed anonymously:
“Fleet expansion is moving faster than MRO capacity. We’re upgrading outwardly faster than we’re upgrading core engineering teams, diagnostic equipment, and turnaround systems.”
While Air India is investing in new aircraft, a significant percentage of its current fleet—particularly narrow-body aircraft like the A321 used on AI315—is over a decade old, requiring frequent inspections, retrofits, and heightened vigilance.
Comparing with Global Safety Leaders
In the aviation sector, safety isn’t just regulated—it’s benchmarked.
How Top Airlines Maintain High Safety Standards:
| Airline | Key Safety Practices |
|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines | Real-time system health monitoring, predictive maintenance using AI, and mandatory third-party MRO audits. |
| Qatar Airways | Each aircraft undergoes multiple unannounced quality inspections monthly. Older planes phased out at an average of 8 years. |
| Delta Air Lines (USA) | In-house maintenance division (TechOps) with more than 11,000 technicians globally. Full transparency with FAA and passengers. |
| Emirates | Employs drone inspections for fuselage integrity, and all incident reports are shared across departments in real-time dashboards. |
In contrast, Air India’s safety documentation remains largely internal, with incident follow-ups often delayed or released reactively after media pressure or regulatory probes.
India’s DGCA, while diligent, lacks the teeth and funding of organizations like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This mismatch has made the gap between Indian carriers and global safety leaders more evident in recent years.
Public Trust: A Fragile Foundation
When the average Indian passenger boards a plane today—especially on a national carrier—they expect not luxury but reliability. Trust in aviation is not won through marketing, but through consistency. In the case of AI315, passengers were spared a disaster not because of good luck alone, but because automated systems triggered in time. The question is: how long can such margins protect public trust in an airline with repeated close calls?
A recent survey by a travel analytics firm found:
- 64% of Indian fliers believe safety standards have declined since 2020.
- Only 37% consider Air India among their top 3 “safest carriers.”
- Among business travelers, Vistara and IndiGo outranked Air India on trust.
Systemic Shortcomings: Time to Address the Core
The AI315 fire has exposed a deeper issue: India’s civil aviation sector is modernizing on the surface but lagging in depth. Aircraft are getting newer, but internal safety accountability structures often rely on manual checklists, legacy databases, and contracted ground crews.
Key issues that require urgent resolution include:
- Outsourced Maintenance Loopholes: Several low-cost or overseas third-party maintenance providers are cutting corners due to commercial pressures.
- Delayed Part Replacements: Aircraft often fly with “permitted deferred maintenance items,” which add up over time, creating latent risks.
- Training Deficit: A rapid surge in post-COVID air travel has not been matched with an equal ramp-up in skilled technical personnel.
Recommendations from Experts
Leading voices in the aviation community are proposing an overhaul:
- Mandatory Disclosure of all incident reports within 72 hours.
- Creation of a National Aviation Safety Review Board (NASRB) that is independent from the DGCA.
- Installation of live telemetry diagnostics on older aircraft to flag any abnormal activity during taxiing and shutdown.
- A three-tier inspection model before any aircraft can return to active duty post-fire or system anomaly.
Fire Was Contained, But Reputation Remains at Risk
Air India’s AI315 fire incident may be classified as “minor” in aviation safety records, but the real fire lies elsewhere—in the perception of neglect, in operational oversight, and in the waning faith of India’s air travellers.
The aircraft will be repaired. The systems will be tested. But unless Air India treats every such incident as a structural warning—not just a one-off technical glitch—it risks something far more dangerous than flames: the slow erosion of passenger trust.
Passenger Testimonies: A Safe Landing, But Unanswered Questions
For the 180-odd passengers aboard Flight AI315, the journey from Hong Kong to Delhi was routine—until moments after touchdown.
Many were unaware that a fire had broken out in the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU) until long after they had collected their baggage. Others caught sight of smoke near the tail of the plane, prompting confusion and hushed concern.
“Nobody Told Us”
“I was sitting in the middle row, 28C. Everything seemed fine. We disembarked like normal, but as I looked back from the aerobridge, I saw fire trucks pulling up behind the aircraft,” said Pratiksha Mehta, a textile exporter returning from a trade show in Guangzhou.
“We didn’t get any official announcement about a fire until I saw it on the news while waiting for my cab.”
Her words echo a growing concern among fliers: not just about safety, but about the lack of real-time communication during and after incidents.
A Cabin Crew Perspective: Drilled, Not Deterred
A cabin crew member who served aboard AI315 agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
“We follow procedure. Once the engines are off and passengers are deplaning, our focus is on orderly exit and baggage issues. The APU fire was detected just after everyone got out. Emergency response arrived immediately. But yes, maybe the airline could’ve communicated sooner.”
Crew members undergo standard emergency training every six months, including APU failure simulations. However, some staff privately admit that such scenarios rarely occur in live conditions, and real-life fire events—however contained—bring a different level of stress.
Ground Staff Accounts: First to Respond, Last to Be Heard
For the ground engineers and tarmac personnel at Delhi’s IGI Airport, the incident was a stressful yet professional exercise.
“Smoke was coming out near the rear fuselage as the aircraft powered down. Our fire units are stationed 90 seconds from all bays. We responded within regulation time,” said a senior airport fire marshal, confirming that containment was swift, thanks to both machine and human vigilance.
However, some ground engineers have raised concerns about the reliability of real-time alerts from aircraft that are being rapidly cycled through multiple destinations without long halts for maintenance.
“An APU can look fine on paper but still have degraded performance. We need longer ground checks—especially for long-haul aircraft that are flying 12+ hours at a stretch,” said one technician, hinting at operational pressure from tight turnarounds and commercial scheduling demands.
Media Coverage: Amplifying Accountability or Fueling Panic?
Within hours of the AI315 incident, news outlets and social media erupted with headlines like:
- “Another Air India Mishap?”
- “AI315 Fire: Is Flying with the National Carrier Still Safe?”
- “Tata’s Air India Faces Safety Headwinds”
Television debates and digital panels featured aviation experts, frequent flyers, and regulatory officials. While some lauded the automated fire detection systems for preventing a disaster, others questioned the frequency of “close calls” involving Air India.
Sensationalism vs. Scrutiny
Veteran aviation journalist Neeraj Dutta commented:
“We must be careful not to equate every technical issue with a crisis. However, the sheer volume of incidents in the last six months warrants serious scrutiny—not just of Air India, but of India’s aviation oversight system as a whole.”
Social media, however, has been less forgiving. On X (formerly Twitter), #AirIndiaFire trended for over 18 hours. Posts ranged from genuine concern to memes and sarcastic commentary about “flying in fear.”
Brand Reputation: Once Iconic, Now Under Siege
Air India, once a symbol of India’s post-independence modernity, has faced a slow erosion of brand equity over the past two decades. The AI315 fire adds yet another dent in its struggle to rebuild that trust—particularly among young, urban, international travelers.
Global Image at Stake
The airline is in the midst of a $70 billion modernization plan under the Tata Group, aiming to compete with Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and Qatar Airways. It has rebranded logos, staff uniforms, menus, and app interfaces.
Yet the average customer today is less interested in typography and tail art than in safety, punctuality, and engineering transparency.
Arvind Rao, a marketing consultant who has studied airline brand recall across South Asia, puts it bluntly:
“One more serious incident, and all the marketing won’t matter. Air India is dangerously close to being seen as ‘beautiful outside, broken inside.’ They need to win back trust with action—not aesthetics.”
Passenger Behavior Shift: A Growing Preference for Private Carriers
In the aftermath of repeated incidents, many frequent flyers are shifting their loyalty to IndiGo, Vistara, Akasa, or international airlines. Corporate clients, particularly those booking premium and business-class seats, are also reconsidering long-term contracts with Air India.
Online forums like FlyerTalk and IndiaMike have seen a surge in posts from passengers requesting refund guidelines, alternative carrier advice, and feedback on how Air India responds to complaints.
“Air India refunded my ticket after 3 weeks and didn’t even issue a clear explanation,” wrote one user who had to cancel a connecting flight due to a last-minute technical delay.
These trends are backed by data: a recent travel platform survey revealed that Air India’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) dropped by 16 points in just three months, with “safety perception” cited as the top driver of dissatisfaction.
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