Air India's Boeing aircraft catches fire at IGI Airport, charred plane put out of service

During a technical inspection an engine of an empty Boeing 777 aircraft of Air India shut down at the Delhi airport on Wednesday. “Airport fire personnel then observed that black fumes were coming out of the engine's exhaust, following which they sprayed foam on it,” Air India said in a statement on Thursday. The APU is the smallest engine on an aircraft and situated at the tail of it. It provides the necessary power to start the main engines.

Boeing has been under scrutiny since the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet, which along with an October Lion Air crash, claimed 346 lives.

#WATCH Air India Delhi to San Francisco (Boeing 777) flight caught fire in Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) yesterday at Delhi airport. Fire started during AC repair. Air India terms it minor incident, plane was empty at the time of repair work, fire was doused immediately. pic.twitter.com/Og790FVABE

— ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2019

“When an engineer was doing a routine technical examination of the empty aircraft (777) at the Delhi airport on Wednesday night, auto shutdown of the auxiliary power unit (APU) took place,” the airline said.
The APU was examined by opening its cowlings (cover). After opening the cover, "there was no traces of any burn or external damage noticed except for the minor oil leaks traces, which was normal," it said.

Earlier, the aviation giant Boeing said that it suffered a $1 billion hit to its bottom line amid the crisis over its 737 MAX aircraft, grounded worldwide after two deadly crashes.

"I can tell you with confidence that we understand our airplane, we understand how the design was accomplished, how the certification was accomplished and we remain fully confident in the product that we put in the field," Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a conference call with analysts.

"There was no surprise, or gap or unknown here, or something that somehow slipped through a certification process."

Boeing is hoping to finalize regulatory approval by the end of May for its fix and to have the planes cleared to fly in July, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Despite the crisis, many analysts are optimistic about Boeing's long-term prospects, given robust global aerospace demand. They expect Boeing will be successful in addressing the 737 MAX's problems allowing the plane to return to service and continue to command the interest of airlines.