2 Air India Dreamliner Flights Cancelled: Delhi-Paris, Ahmedabad-London
New Delhi:
A Delhi-Paris Air India flight, AI 143, has been cancelled for Tuesday after "mandatory pre-flight checks identified an issue", the airline said in a statement this evening. Consequently, the return service, Air India flight AI 142, scheduled to fly from Paris to Delhi on Wednesday, has also been cancelled.
The issue flagged by pre-flight checks "is being addressed", an airline spokesperson said, but the delay means AI 143 will run afoul of restrictions on night-time operations at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
"We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and are making alternative arrangements... We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling, if opted for by the passengers," the airline said.
This is the second Air India flight cancellation in quick succession.
Hours earlier the airline confirmed its Ahmedabad-London Gatwick service had been scrapped and cited an unavailability of aircraft due to airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks.
This comes days after the horrific crash of Air India's AI 171 - a 787-8 Dreamliner flying the same sector as above, i.e., from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, that crashed seconds after take-off.
Videos showed the Air India plane slamming into buildings bordering the airport, including a college hostel, and exploding into a terrifying fireball that killed 241 of the 242 people on board.
Air India has retired the 171 call sign as a mark of respect for those killed.
Post-Ahmedabad, Tech Snags Hit Dreamliners
In the aftermath of the June 12 AI-171 crash three other India-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliners - operated by British Airways, Lufthansa, and Air India - were forced to return to origin airports.
One of those was a Hong Kong-Delhi AI flight that returned 15 minutes after taking off; Air India said AI-315 turned around because of a "technical issue" but gave no further details.
The other two were from Frankfurt (to Hyderabad) and London (to Chennai).
And, early Tuesday an Air India San Francisco-Mumbai flight via Kolkata also suffered a technical snag. Passengers were deboarded during a halt at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport.
The flight had a problem in the left engine, news agency PTI reported.
Meanwhile, flight and voice data recorders from the crashed plane have been recovered and the information is being analysed, the government has said. Information from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder should bring investigators closer to establishing why AI 171 crashed.
The government has set up a high-level committee up to oversee the inquiry.
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