Flight AI180 arrived in Kolkata on schedule, but a technical issue with the aircraft's left engine caused a delay in takeoff. After several hours on the tarmac, passengers were asked to disembark. The flight captain reportedly informed travelers that the decision was made “in the interest of flight safety.”
The disruption follows another incident just a day earlier, when an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route from Hong Kong to Delhi was forced to return to its departure point due to a similar technical issue.
These recurring malfunctions come at a time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India has issued an urgent directive for all Indian carriers to immediately inspect their Boeing 787 aircraft. The safety alert was prompted by a tragic crash involving an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner near Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat.
On June 12, a London-bound Air India flight with 242 people on board crashed shortly after takeoff, plummeting into a residential area near Ahmedabad. The crash resulted in the deaths of nearly all passengers and several people on the ground. Only one passenger reportedly survived. As of the latest reports, 274 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage. An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway.