As directed, AirAsia India has suspended operations from 24 Mar 2020, resulting in our fleet of 30 aircraft being parked and stored at various airports in India. Aircraft are designed to fly and therefore any prolonged grounding requires additional maintenance requirements to ensure proper preservation. Led by the Head of Engineering, the engineering team has ensured that aircraft are preserved according to the guidelines and regulation laid down by the manufacturer and DGCA.

Aircraft are complex machines, equipped with state of the art electronics, complex Hydraulic and Pneumatic systems, apart from the combination of metal and composite structural components. Not being in service as envisaged in their design philosophy, it becomes necessary that regular steps are taken to keep the aircraft in “Flight Ready Conditions” to enable quick resumption. The  current situation poses an added challenge; dauntless our warriors are accomplishing checks donning personal protection while always maintaining social distancing measures.

Scheduled Checks

All aircraft are required to undergo periodic checks every week, fortnightly and monthly basis irrespective of the magnitude of operations. We also accomplish the preservation checks required, a few of which are periodic power-on, wheel rotation, Engine and APU runs to ensure serviceability. A few maintenance activities are calendar based and have to be accomplished in order to maintain airworthiness, ascertaining serviceability of escape slides, flushing of pitot and static lines etc to name a few.

Natural Threats

On completion, aircraft need to be protected from natural threats like climatic conditions, dust, insects, birds and foreign objects. To ensure that the aircraft are well protected, all cavities like Engine Air Intakes, APU exhaust, Air data probes and sensors etc. are all covered with approved covers and blanked. A daily walk around check is carried out to ensure these blanking are in place so that the aircraft is maintained in preserved condition.

Cabin Upkeep

Every adversity presents an opportunity. We are using the downtime to touch up the aircraft interior including seat covers, carpets, seat belts, lavatories etc. Aircraft cabins are being disinfected and deep cleaned in order to ensure we meet enhanced safety requirements and provide you all with a better experience.

Future Ready

We take great pride in presenting an environment and experience that is second to none. In order to be future ready and anticipating the requirements post-COVID travel scenario, we are making arrangements with our service partners at all airports to disinfect the aircraft after every flight and carry out deep cleaning every night to enable us to ensure a disinfected, clean and safe aircraft to our customers each time and every time. The engineering team will be ready to fly our guests to their destinations at the very word ‘GO’