Air India’s Zurich-Delhi flight aborted at take-off, after ‘no issues’ assurance

Despite Air India’s recent claim of “no issues” with its Boeing 787 fleet, at least two flights, including Zurich-Delhi and Milan-Delhi, have been scrapped in the last two days after last-minute technical snags.

Mumbai: Air India on Monday said it cancelled its Zurich-Delhi flight of August 17 due to a technical reason, days after the Tata Group-owned airline stated that it had carried out a detailed "inspection" of its Boeing 787 aircraft fleet and "no issues" were detected.

However, a passenger on board said the flight aborted take-off at the last minute due to an engine issue.

In the last two days, Air India has cancelled at least two flights, including one international, at the last moment, citing technical reasons.

Air India operates its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet to cater to the European market.

"Flight AI152 scheduled to operate from Zurich to Delhi on 17 August has been cancelled due to a technical reason, and subsequently due to night curfew in Zurich," Air India said in a statement.

The airline said it has arranged alternative flights to the passengers’ destination and is providing hotel accommodation, along with full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling options for the passengers.

"Air India flight from Zurich to Delhi is cancelled: aborted moments before take-off, technical issue in engine cited," said the passenger in a post on X.

A Delhi-bound Air India plane, carrying Lok Sabha Member and Congress leader Hibi Eden among others, aborted take-off at the Kochi airport on Sunday due to a technical issue, officials said.

Earlier, the airline was forced to cancel its Milan-Delhi flight owing to a technical issue which was detected during pushback.

The airline, which came under private hands in January 2022, has recently been delaying and cancelling some flights at the last minute due to technical and maintenance issues.

This comes despite repeated assurances from Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson that the airline has carried out comprehensive checks on its Boeing 787 aircraft fleet.

In a message to the customers recently, while listing out the various steps taken after the fatal crash of an AI-171 flight to London soon after take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, Wilson said detailed inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft were done and "no issues were found during inspection".