Air India Flights Grounded: Multiple Dreamliners Cancelled Amid Safety Checks

New Delhi(The Uttam Hindu): Days after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft crash in Ahmedabad on June12, several Air India flights most of them being dreamliners were cancelled on Tuesday as part of precautionary checks following heightened safety scrutiny by aviation authorities. This came after many flights experienced technical issues , flight returns, delays that followed after the Ahmedbad plane crash.

Air India flights cancelled today are:

AI915 - Delhi to Dubai - B788 Dreamliner

AI153 - Delhi to Vienna - B788 Dreamliner

AI143 - Delhi to Paris - B788 Dreamliner

AI159 - Ahmedabad to London - B788 Dreamliner

AI170 - London to Amritsar - B788 Dreamliner

AI133 - Bengaluru to London - B788 Dreamliner

AI179 - Mumbai to San Francisco - B777

Air India's Ahmedabad to Gatwick flight cancelled

Air India said on Tuesday its flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in London has been cancelled due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks. The airline denied claims that the flight has been cancelled due to any technical snag.

Regretting the inconvenience caused to passengers, the airline said alternative arrangements have been made to fly them to their destination. It said hotel accommodation was being provided, and refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling was also being offered if opted by the passengers.

Delhi-Paris Air India flight cancelled

Paris-bound Air India flight 143 from Delhi was also cancelled on Tuesday after pre-flight checks identified an issue, which was currently being addressed, an Air India spokesperson confirmed. The AI143 has been cancelled because the flight is subject to restrictions on night operations at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport.

"We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and are making alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination at the earliest. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers," an Air India spokesperson said. Consequently, flight AI142 from Paris to Delhi on June 17 also stands cancelled. 

Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai grounded in Kolkata

Meanwhile, an Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai, with a scheduled stop in Kolkata, was grounded on Tuesday after a technical issue was suspected during a routine post-landing inspection. All passengers were safely deplaned, and some have been accommodated in a hotel in Kolkata. The termination led to chaotic scenes at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata as the 211 passengers on the Boeing 777-200 LR tried to convince officials to let them reach their destination at the earliest.

There were 228 people on board the aircraft, including pilots and crew. The flight was originally scheduled to depart to Mumbai from Kolkata at 2am on Tuesday.

Usually, Air India flies directly to Mumbai from San Francisco, but the ongoing geopolitical events, including the closure of Pakistani airspace, have led AI to reroute it and take a “technical halt” in Kolkata. Flight AI180 landed in Kolkata at the scheduled time of 12.45am, even though it took off one hour late from San Francisco.

IndiGo flight makes emergency landing in Nagpur

Earlier in the day, an IndiGo flight 6E 2706, which was travelling from Muscat to Delhi with a layover at Kochi, made an emergency landing at Nagpur airport on Tuesday after a bomb threat was received.

According to Lohit Matani, DCP Nagpur, all passengers have been safely deboarded, and an investigation is currently underway. Preliminary checks have not found anything suspicious so far, officials said.