Delhi-bound Air India Dreamliner returns to Hong Kong after mid-air technical issue

NEW DELHI: An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane bound for New Delhi returned to its origin of Hong Kong as a precautionary measure on Monday after a technical issue was suspected mid-air, the latest incident affecting the airline in recent days.

AI315 “returned to Hong Kong shortly after take-off due to a technical issue. The flight landed safely … and is undergoing checks as a matter of abundant precaution,” Air India said in a statement.

The incident comes days after an Air India flight to London, using the same type of Boeing aircraft, crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad moments after take-off, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

AI315 made a return to Hong Kong International Airport after requesting local standby at around 1 p.m. (0500 GMT) and “landed safely at around 1:15 p.m.”, the spokesperson of Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The airport operations were not affected, the spokesperson added.

Flight AI315 took off from Hong Kong at around 12:20 p.m. and landed just around an hour later. It reached an altitude of 22,000 feet, and then started descending, according to flight tracking website AirNav Radar. The plane was 7 years old.

Boeing and Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Hong Kong-New Delhi flight.

Last week’s crash brings a new challenge for both Air India, which has for years been trying to revamp its fleet, and Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises. (Reuters)