Latest news with #AirIndia
Indian Express
25 minutes ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Resume Goa-Gatwick flight, many take it for employment: CM to Centre
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Wednesday wrote to the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu requesting his intervention for resumption of the Air India flight from Goa to Gatwick, London. Sawant said the flight had been suspended following the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last month. The crash on June 12 killed all but one of the 241 passengers aboard and 19 people on the ground. In an email to the Union Minister Wednesday, Sawant said: 'It is learnt that the operation of the Goa-Gatwick non-stop flight operated by Air India was suspended in June 2025, after the Ahmadabad plane crash. The resumption was likely to be started with effect from July 15'. Sawant said the suspension of flight services has caused a lot of inconvenience to Goans travelling to and from London. 'Many Goans travel on this route for employment purposes. I request you to kindly take up the issue with Air India and facilitate early operation of this flight,' he said. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo had initially raised the issue in the state legislative assembly on Monday, expressing concern over the suspension of the flight. Lobo said the flight was used by Goans, who had been studying and working abroad, and sought intervention of the chief minister. Sawant said he will consult the Union Civil Aviation Ministry on the issue. On Wednesday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Venzy Viegas raised a point of order in the House and sought an update on the matter. In response, Sawant informed the House that he will write to the Ministry Wednesday via email.
Arab Times
an hour ago
- General
- Arab Times
Air India Express flight makes emergency U-turn to Kerala
KERALA, India, July 23: An Air India Express flight (IX375) operating from Kozhikode, Kerala, to Doha returned to its departure airport on Wednesday shortly after takeoff due to a technical issue. The Boeing 737-86N aircraft departed Calicut International Airport at 9:17 a.m. and landed safely back at 11:12 a.m. A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that the aircraft returned due to a technical malfunction. An alternative aircraft was arranged to accommodate the affected passengers, who were provided with refreshments during the delay. The rescheduled flight has since departed. This incident follows another occurrence on Tuesday involving an Air India flight (AI 315) from Hong Kong to Delhi. Upon landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport, the aircraft experienced a fire in its auxiliary power unit (APU), a small engine typically located in the tail section that provides power when the main engines are off. The APU fire broke out just as passengers began disembarking. According to the airline, the system responded automatically, shutting down the APU as designed. All passengers and crew exited safely, and no injuries were reported. The aircraft sustained some damage and remains grounded pending further investigation. The incident has been reported to the aviation regulator.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- General
- The Hindu
IndiGo's Ahmedabad-Diu flight aborts take-off due to technical snag
A Diu-bound IndiGo flight from Ahmedabad carrying around 50 passengers and crew members aborted take-off at the last minute on Wednesday (June 23, 2025) due to a technical issue, sources said. Also read:Ahmedabad plane crash: 'Established protocols' followed for identifying victims, says India after U.K. media report on families receiving wrong bodies As per the schedule, the flight was supposed to depart around 11.15 am from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, they said. The aircraft was in the take-off roll phase when the pilot decided to stop it on the runway. "A technical snag indication was noticed just before the take-off on IndiGo flight 6E7966 operating from Ahmedabad to Diu on July 23," IndiGo said in a statement. Following the standard operating procedure, the pilots informed the authorities and returned the aircraft to bay, it said. The aircraft will undergo necessary checks and maintenance before resuming operations, it said. The airline also said it will accommodate the passengers in the next available flight or will provide a full refund against cancellation, as per their preference. An airport official said the IndiGo flight was cancelled due to some technical issues. "When the aircraft began its take-off roll, the pilots took a decision to stop it due to some technical reasons," a source said. All the 50-odd passengers and crew members are safe, he said. This is the third incident involving an IndiGo aircraft in the last few days. On July 21, an IndiGo flight from Goa with 140 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport in Madhya Pradesh's Indore due to a landing gear issue. Prior to that on July 17, a Goa-bound IndiGo flight from Delhi made an emergency landing in Mumbai after being diverted to it due to a mid-air engine failure. The flight was being operated with an Airbus A320neo aircraft. On June 12, an Air India flight to London Gatwick crashed within seconds of its take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 passengers and crew members on board and 19 persons on ground.
Scroll.in
an hour ago
- Scroll.in
Air India crash: Protocols followed, says MEA after report claims British victims' remains bungled
A day after a report in the British tabloid Daily Mail alleged that two families in the United Kingdom received wrongly identified mortal remains of the victims of the June 12 Air India crash, India's Ministry of External Affairs said that all established protocols were followed. The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that the relatives of one victim had to abandon plans for a funeral after being told that their coffin contained the body of an unknown passenger. In another case, a family claimed to have received a casket with the 'commingled' remains of multiple persons. The mix-up came to light when a coroner sought to verify the identities of the victims by matching their DNA samples with those provided by their families. 'Some have got the wrong remains and they are clearly distraught over this,' the Daily Mail quoted James Healy-Pratt, an aviation lawyer representing some of the relatives of those who died, as saying. 'It has been going on for a couple of weeks [and] I think these families deserve an explanation.' In response to the report, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government has been working with authorities in the United Kingdom 'from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention'. The spokesperson added: 'All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased.' The foreign ministry said that identification of victims was carried out 'as per established protocols and technical requirements'. Our response to media queries regarding a report in the Daily Mail on the Air India crash⬇️ 🔗 — Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) July 23, 2025 Two hundred and forty-two persons were aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft – enroute to London's Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad – that crashed just 33 seconds after taking off on June 12. Only one passenger survived with ' impact injuries '. The aircraft's crash into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College also killed at least 34 persons on the ground. This is being viewed as the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Air India crash: Authorities claim victims in 'DNA mix-up' treated with 'utmost professionalism'
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had been bound for London Gatwick when it ploughed into a medical college close to Ahmedabad Airport in India. More than 240 people died in the crash Grieving families allegedly given the wrong remains of Air India crash victims have been told their loved ones were treated with "utmost professionalism" despite the mix-up. The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport on June 12, killing 241 people on board. Some 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals were killed, making it one of the deadliest plane crashes in terms of the number of British fatalities. Aviation lawyer James Healy-Pratt, whose firm Keystone Law is representing more than 20 British families who lost loved ones in the disaster, said relatives of one victim found out a casket contained 'co-mingled' remains, while a different family were told a coffin contained the body of someone else entirely, not their loved one. The Indian Interior Ministry has responded to the claims, stressing that the handling of the remains was done with the "utmost professionalism and respect". Mr Healy-Pratt, who is a partner at the firm, said the mistakes emerged after the 'sterling efforts' of senior coroner for Inner West London, Dr Fiona Wilcox, who 'picked up DNA anomalies' at the beginning of the repatriations. 'In the first two caskets that were repatriated, in one of the caskets, there was co-mingling of DNA which did not relate to the deceased in that casket or the casket that accompanied it and so that's what alerted her and her team to the fact there was a serious problem,' he told the PA news agency. 'My understanding was that the co-mingling was at the very beginning, which alerted Dr Wilcox to the fact that she had to be 100% assiduous about checking the identification of the incoming remains. 'She was then able to determine that one particular loved one was not at all who the family thought they were.' The Indian ministry spokesperson, Shri Randhir Jaiswal said: "We have seen the report and have been working closely with the UK side from the moment these concerns and issues were brought to our attention. In the wake of the tragic crash, the concerned authorities had carried out identification of victims as per established protocols and technical requirements. "All mortal remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. We are continuing to work with the UK authorities on addressing any concerns related to this issue." The family of three British victims who were buried in India after the crash said there was a 'clear lack of transparency and accountability' in how the identification and repatriation of victims was handled. Relatives of Akeel Nanabawa, his wife Hannaa Vorajee and their four-year-old daughter Sara Nanabawa said in a statement: 'Recent developments have only confirmed what many feared: that serious mistakes may have been made, and that the dignity and rights of victims and their families were not safeguarded as they should have been. 'In our case, we are confident that we received the correct bodies, based on the hospital's assurances, autopsy reports, their clothing and the personal belongings we recovered. 'But our concern now is not limited to ourselves. We are deeply troubled by what this means for other families who may still be searching for certainty and closure. 'This isn't just a personal tragedy; it is a collective one. And the mishandling of such a sensitive process speaks to a wider failure between the British and Indian authorities to act with care, co-ordination and respect.' It is understood no blame is being put on any UK agency for the blunders, Mr Healy-Pratt told the PA news agency. 'We know that they were not allowed anywhere near the DNA identification chain of custody link to the caskets,' he said. 'That was the Indian authorities, that's what we understand. 'But nobody's actually laid that out formally for families to look at and review, and that's what we want – explanations by the Indian government about who was in charge of that chain of custody, why were there the massive mistakes that were made and, the important thing, how do the families know that there aren't other remains of their loved ones in a fridge in an Indian hospital?' The lawyer said he believes the mistakes will be on the agenda for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer 's talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Wednesday and Thursday. Mr Healy-Pratt added: 'Somebody has to take responsibility in India for this massive screw up and then they actually have to ensure that they can give proper assurances to the families that the job has been completed and done properly. 'The hierarchy of needs of these families in air crashes, it's always the same. The first thing they want is their loved ones back so they can say goodbye to them; the second thing is they want to know how their loved ones died; third thing, they want to prevent further deaths so that all depends on getting number two right; and then number four, it will be some form of financial justice.' His firm has demanded a written explanation from Air India, including on the involvement of their contractors Kenyon International Emergency Services. PA has approached Air India's parent company, the Tata Group, and Kenyon Emergency Services for comment, as well as No 10 and the Foreign Office. Mr Healy-Pratt understands 12 bodies have been repatriated to the UK. He is investigating the identification mistakes but is also tasked with representing families at inquests, investigating the causes of the accident, taking High Court legal action in England against Air India and taking action against Boeing in the US courts. Besides those on board AI171, another 19 people also died and 67 were seriously injured. The only surviving passenger on the plane was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who previously told The Sun it was a 'miracle' he was alive but felt 'terrible' he could not save his brother Ajay. A preliminary report into the incident from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found both of the plane's fuel switches moved to the 'cut-off' position 'immediately' after take-off, stopping fuel supply to the engine. It has sparked questions over whether the crash was deliberate.
