Air India cancels 3 international flights due to maintenance, technical and other issues
Mumbai, Jun 18 (PTI): Air India has cancelled three of its international flights on Wednesday owing to various reasons, including maintenance and technical issues.
Two of these flights were cancelled after the passengers had already boarded the aircraft, the airline said.
The airline said it had to cancel its Toronto-Delhi flight AI188 of June 18 due to extended maintenance and consequently operating crew coming under regulatory flight duty time limitation norms.
Passengers, who had already boarded the aircraft, were disembarked following cancellation of the flight, it said.
Also, flight AI996 from Dubai to Delhi on June 18, 2025 was cancelled due to technical reasons and passengers were disembarked after boarding, as per Air India.
However, the airline's flight AI2145 from Delhi to Bali was cancelled after it was advised to return to Delhi mid-way due to reports of volcanic eruption near the destination airport Bali, in the interest of safety, Air India stated.
The flight safely landed back in Delhi and all passengers were disembarked.
Air India said its teams on the ground are making alternative arrangements for the passengers to fly to their respective destinations at the earliest.
Full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling have also been offered to passengers.
Air India said it is anticipating some disruptions (in its flight operations) due to the continuing enhanced checks on the airline's Boeing 787 fleet coupled with airspace restrictions and inclement weather.
On June 13, a day after the B787-8 crash that killed 241 people on board, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ordered enhanced surveillance of Air India's Boeing 787 fleet, comprising 26 787-8 and seven 787-9 planes.
Since the Ahmedabad crash, Air India cancelled 66 flights to be operated with Boeing 787 between June 12th and June 17th. Multiple flights have been cancelled or delayed citing technical issues.
At a review meeting with top executives of Air India and Air India Express, aviation safety regulator DGCA flagged concerns regarding recent maintenance-related issues reported at Air India and "advised the airline to strengthen internal coordination across engineering, operations, ground handling units and ensure availability of adequate spares to mitigate passenger delays.
It however said that recent surveillance on Air India's Boeing 787 fleet "did not reveal any major safety concerns".
"The aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be in compliance with existing safety standards," DGCA said in a post-review meeting statement.
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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
