Air India Express (IX, Delhi International) The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chastised Air India Express (IX, Delhi International) in May 2025 for altering the engine maintenance records and failing to promptly comply with airworthiness directives (AD), Reuters reported, citing an internal memo.
In May 2023, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) issued AD 2023-0108, which mandated the replacement of defective engine seals, compressor spools, and high-pressure turbine rotor disks found in CFM International LEAP-1A powerplants. The low-cost carrier allegedly did not replace the faulty parts within the time frame set by EASA, and forged the maintenance log to show compliance with AD.
DGCA raised the issue on March 18, 2025. Only aircraft has reportedly had its records forged - a 2020-vintage A320-200N VT-ATD (msn 10037).
The airline told Reuters that it did not implement component replacement in a timely manner due to the migration of records on its monitoring software. It stressed that it changed parts immediately after it identified the problem. It also sacked the quality manager and suspended the deputy continuing airworthiness manager, following DGCA's probe.
"EASA, along with the FAA, acts as the joint State of Design for the CFM LEAP engines. EASA will investigate this matter further with the TC holder CFM, and with DGCA India as State of Registry for Air India Express," EASA told ch-aviation.
The DGCA and Air India Express did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment.
According to ch-aviation data, Air India Express operates twelve A320-200Ns and three A321-200NX. All aircraft are powered by LEAP-1A engines. Apart from A320neo and A321neo, the Indian carrier also operates twenty-four A320-200s, forty-nine B737-8s, and twenty-six B737-800s.
