Air India Considers Retrofitting Plan to Address EASA Safety Concerns

Air India's Safety Ratings May Improve by End of 2026

Air India, owned by Tata Sons, is on track to induct nearly a dozen refurbished wide-body aircraft in the coming months, which will help address several safety-related issues flagged during European inspections. The airline's safety ratings with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which placed Air India under "elevated concern", may begin to improve before the end of 2026.

Retrofit Programme Progress

Air India's score with EASA has already decreased from 1.96 at the start of 2026 to 1.6 as of March 16. The airline's first retrofitted B787 will arrive in the next few weeks, and 10-12 such retrofitted aircraft will join the fleet throughout this year. By next year, 80-90% of the issues flagged during European inspections will be resolved.

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Fleet Modernisation

Air India flies a mix of narrow and wide-body planes made by Airbus and Boeing. While the narrow body fleet comprises either completely new planes or retrofitted planes, the airline has quality and durability issues with its wide-bodies, including the Boeing 787 and the Boeing 777, which are the oldest in its fleet.

EASA Inspections

The EU aviation watchdog conducts Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) inspections, which are surprise ramp checks carried out when non-European airlines land at airports across the 27-member country bloc. These inspections verify whether aircraft operations comply with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

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Rating System

Airlines are evaluated through a "findings per inspection" ratio:

• Below 1: strong compliance
• Around 1-1.5: moderate deficiencies
• Around 2 or higher: may trigger enhanced monitoring or operational restrictions

Differences in Regulatory Interpretation

Air India maintains that differences between European and Indian regulatory interpretations partly explain the higher findings. For instance, a broken passenger seat may not be classified as a safety issue by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) but could still be flagged in a European inspection.

Failure to Report Defects

Air India also acknowledged that some issues were not reported to EASA as required, which contributed to the elevated inspection ratio. The airline has since improved its reporting practices to comply with EASA regulations.

Comparison with Global Peers

Although Air India has managed to bring down its SAFA ratio, its score remains significantly higher than leading global carriers such as Lufthansa, Air France, Emirates, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines, whose inspection ratios typically range between 0.3 and 0.8.