Air India Dreamliner returns to Hong Kong after 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 (Jun 16), after the pilot suspected a technical issue mid-air, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

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.

The Dreamliner aircraft flying Air India flight AI315 out of Hong Kong on Monday is now undergoing checks, said the source with knowledge of the matter.

AI315 made a return to Hong Kong International Airport and requested local standby at around 1 pm, “landed safely at around 1.15 pm”, 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 pm 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.

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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