New Delhi:The fuel-control switch panel on an Air India-operated Boeing 787 - which flew from London to Delhi in February after pilots flagged a possible defect - has already been confirmed as "fully functional", the airline said Tuesday evening.

The Air India statement was in response to a Reuters report that said officials from the national regulator - the Directorate General of Civil Aviation - had insisted on being present at a Boeing facility in the United States to observe the manufacture testing the recovered panel.

"The decision to proceed with further testing is intended to ensure a thorough and conclusive evaluation of the component, as a measure of abundant caution," Air India said, explaining the controlled-environment testing was meant to "definitively confirm performance and integrity"."We fully support the process," the airline said.

The Aviation Ministry - to which the DGCA reports - did not confirm the Seattle visit. Sources in the ministry would only tell NDTV the AAIB, i.e., the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, had been kept informed "on all the developments since the occurrence was reported".

News of further testing of the panel renews spotlight on switches that regulate flow of jet fuel into a plane's engines, even as investigators prepare a final report into the crash of another Air India-operated Boeing 787 - one that crashed seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad.

Source:Ndtv