Air India San Francisco-Mumbai flight suffers snag; passengers deplaned

Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai faced a delay at Kolkata after a left engine snag; passengers were deplaned early morning as a safety precaution

Passengers of an Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai were deplaned at Kolkata airport early on Tuesday after one of the engines developed a technical snag.

 

The halt was scheduled. According to a PTI report: “Flight AI180 arrived on time at 0045 hrs at the airport, but the technical snag in the left engine resulted in the take-off getting delayed. At about 0520 hrs, an announcement was made in the aircraft asking all the passengers to deplane. The decision was made in the interest of flight safety,” the captain of the plane told the passengers.

 

This comes a day after an Air India Express flight from Delhi to Ranchi was diverted back to the national capital shortly after taking off on Monday due to a suspected technical issue.

 

In a separate incident on Monday, an Air India flight bound for Delhi returned to Hong Kong International Airport after the pilot found a technical glitch in the aircraft. The pilots told Hong Kong’s Air Traffic Control that they did not wish to continue further, adding: “Due to technical reasons, we would like to stay closer to Hong Kong. Maybe we will come back and land in Hong Kong once we sort out the problem. We do not want to continue further.”

 

It is worth noting that the flight was delayed by over three hours and returned to Hong Kong nearly an hour after take-off. Following the incident, Air India issued a statement. It said: “AI315 operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 16 June 2025, air-returned to Hong Kong shortly after take-off due to a technical issue. The flight landed safely at Hong Kong and is undergoing checks as a matter of abundant precaution.” It further informed the passengers that arrangements were being made for alternate travel options. “Alternative arrangements have been planned to fly the passengers to their destination, Delhi, at the earliest. We are providing all necessary on-ground assistance to the passengers to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption.”

 

These incidents come a few days after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which claimed the lives of 241 people on board, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.