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After crash, Air India woes continue: Why has airline cancelled multiple flights in past 72 hours?

Air India has cancelled multiple flights over the past 72 hours, including seven on Tuesday alone. The development comes against the backdrop of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordering the airline to perform one-time safety checks. Why have so many flights been called off? read more Early Tuesday, Air India flight AI180 — flying from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata — faced a technical snag in its left engine, forcing all passengers to deboard. File image/PTI Since the Ahmedabad plane crash, India has been witnessing turmoil in the skies. Air India has cancelled multiple flights over the past 72 hours including seven on Tuesday alone. The development comes in the backdrop of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordering Air India to perform one-time safety checks. The aviation regulator has ordered exhaustive maintenance checks on 787-8/9 variants equipped with GEnx engines, including assessments of certain take-off parameters, electronic engine control tests and engine fuel-related checks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But why all these flights being cancelled? What do we know? Let's take a closer look: Air India Air India on Tuesday called off seven international flights. These included the AI-915 (Delhi–Dubai), AI-153 (Delhi–Vienna), AI-143 (Delhi–Paris), AI-159 (Ahmedabad–London), AI-133 (Bengaluru–London) and AI-170 (London–Amritsar) and AI179 (Mumbai-San Francisco). Of these, six were Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners – the same model involved in the Ahmedabad plane crash that left over 270 dead. Air India cited multiple reasons for the cancellations including technical issues (AI-143 to Paris) and aircraft unavailability (AI-159 to London). 'Flight AI 143 from Delhi to Paris on 17 June has been cancelled. The mandatory pre-flight checks identified an issue which is being presently addressed. However, in view of the flight coming under the restrictions on night operations at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport, the said flight has been cancelled… We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers. Consequently, flight AI 142 from Paris to Delhi on 17 June 2025 also stands cancelled,' Air India said in a statement. The AI179 to San Francisco suffered a technical snag during a stopover at Kolkata – following which all passengers were deboarded. On Monday, the airline called off the AI-2493 flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The development comes in the backdrop of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordering Air India to perform one-time safety checks. Reuters This occurred after the crew reached their Flight Duty Time limit after operational delays. 'We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and are making alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination at the earliest. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers,' Air India said in a statement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The DGCA has called an urgent meeting with representatives from the airline on Tuesday evening. The DGCA Director General is expected to chair the meeting. On Monday, AI-315 from Hong Kong to Delhi turned back shortly after take-off. This occurred after a technical glitch. 'We don't want to continue further,' the pilot told air traffic control (ATC). An Air India flight to Ranchi also returned to Delhi after a technical issue. An Air India flight from Phuket to New Delhi returned to Thailand after a bomb threat. All 156 passengers on flight AI-379 are safe. Air India on Monday also cancelled flights to Sydney and Melbourne. 'The cancellations are due to a combination of factors including enhanced inspection which took longer time than expected and closure of the Iranian airspace,' an Air India official told passengers. Air India has 33 Boeing 787s in its fleet. IndiGo, other airlines Meanwhile, IndiGo flight 6E 2706 from Muscat to Delhi via Kochi made an emergency landing at Nagpur airport after a bomb threat. 'All passengers have been deboarded, investigation is underway, nothing suspicious has been found so far,' DCP Nagpur Lohit Matani was quoted as saying. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Also on Tuesday, two Dreamliners operated by Lufthansa and British Airways – flying from Frankfurt and London to Hyderabad and Chennai respectively – were forced to turn around and land at their airports of origin. The Lufthansa flight was forced to make a U-turn over a bomb threat. A passenger on board said that the plane had 'landed safely', with the pilot apologising for the 'inconvenience caused' by the delay due to matters 'beyond their control'. With inputs from agencies