Air India cancels Milan-Delhi flight due to last-minute technical fault

Tata Group-owned private carrier Air India on Sunday said it cancelled its Milan-Delhi flight of August 16 after detecting a maintenance issue at the last minute.

Alternative arrangements are being made to fly the passengers to their destination at the earliest, Air India said in a statement.

"Flight AI138 operating from Milan to Delhi on August 16 was cancelled due to a maintenance task identified during pushback," the statement said.

"Our ground team in Milan extended immediate assistance to all the affected passengers, providing hotel accommodation and offering full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling as opted by the passengers," it said.

According to Air India, along with the maintenance issue, the operating crew of the flight come under the mandatory flight duty-time limitation norms.

Air India generally operates its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet to cater to European destinations.

The airline, which came under private hands in January 2022, has, of late, been delaying, cancelling some flights at the last minute due to technical and maintenance issues.

This is despite airline CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson repeatedly claiming that Air India has carried out comprehensive checks on its Boeing 787 aircraft fleet.

A Delhi-bound Air India flight from Bhubaneswar was cancelled just prior to its departure on August 3 due to high cabin temperature.

On July 31, an Air India Boeing 787-9 aircraft flying to London had to abort take-off at Delhi airport and return to the bay due to a technical issue.

In a message to the customers recently, while listing out the various steps taken after the fatal crash of an AI-171 flight to London soon after take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, Wilson said detailed inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft were done and "no issues were found during inspection".