Air India's Boeing 787 makes emergency landing in Kolkata

Yet another instance of technical snag causing grounding of plane

An Air India Boeing 787 plane on the Delhi-Hong Kong route made an emergency landing in Kolkata in early hours of Tuesday after passengers complained of smoke inside the aircraft cabin.

The Boeing 787 is the latest aircraft in Air India’s fleet but in recent weeks its serviceability has been impacted due to snags.

The Boeing 787 (AI 314) departed Delhi at 11.30 pm on Monday and was diverted to Kolkata following complaints of smoke. The aircraft took off to Hong Kong and onward to Osaka on Tuesday evening.

A defect in cabin air compressor’s inlet and duct might have led to the smoke, sources said. There was no fire inside the aircraft.

In a statement, the airline said, “The flight was diverted to Kolkata due to suspected technical issues. The flight landed as per laid down safety parameters. Passengers were provided with hotel accommodation. A few flyers were flown to Delhi for onward alternate connections.”

In the past one month, there have been at least three instances of aircraft being grounded and flights being delayed due to snags. According to reports, the airline had to ground its aircraft in Shanghai and Paris due to technical defects leading to delays.

Recently Air India Aircraft Engineers Association wrote to the management asking it to halt the induction of additional B787 planes until the glitches in the plane were resolved. The engineers body also demanded extension of aircraft-related warranties till its serviceability improved. Air India management has raised the issue about frequent snags in the aircraft with Boeing.

Air India has 27 Boeing 787s on order and has till now inducted 21 aircraft and flies them to Europe, East Asia, Australia and Russia.