AI Express 'proactively' grounded one of its Boeing 737-NG aircraft for fixing an issue

Air India Express on Saturday said it has ''proactively'' grounded one of its Boeing 737-NG aircraft for fixing an issue raised by the aviation safety regulator, DGCA. However, sources said that the DGCA, which carried out an audit of the airline a few weeks back had flagged a potential tyre issue, following which the aircraft has been taken out of operations. ''In light of an observation by the regulatory authority, we have proactively withdrawn one of our aircraft from operations for any necessary fixes,'' an Air India Express spokesperson said. ''The DGCA carried out an audit of Air India Express, following which it detected an issue around interchangeability of tyre (of Boeing 737-NG for which the airline has sought a clarification from the OEM (Boeing), leading to the grounding of the aircraft,'' said a source. The aircraft was pulled out of service two days back, he said. In the meantime, the airline is planning to replace the component of the tyre and the aircraft is expected to be in service soon, the source said.