Air India plane's auxiliary power unit catches fire after landing at Delhi

The Air India flight AI315 was operating from Hong Kong to Delhi; all passengers and crew are safe, while the aircraft has been grounded for investigation, the airline said

The auxiliary power unit of an Air India flight caught fire on Tuesday afternoon after landing at Delhi airport from Hong Kong, the airline said in a statement. All passengers and crew members are safe, it added.

 

“Flight AI315, operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 22 July 2025, experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) fire shortly after it had landed and parked at the gate. The incident occurred while passengers had begun disembarking, and the APU was automatically shut down as per system design,” an airline spokesperson said in a statement. 

 

The spokesperson added that there was some damage to the aircraft, while passengers and crew disembarked normally and were safe.

 

“The aircraft has been grounded for further investigations and the regulator has been duly notified,” the spokesperson added.

 

Air India is facing continued scrutiny due to flight delays, cancellations, and increased regulatory attention following the June 12 Ahmedabad plane crash that killed 241 of 242 people on board, as well as 19 on the ground. 

 

The crash investigation remains mired in controversy, with preliminary findings suggesting that the incident was caused by a cut in fuel supply to the engine. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, a source familiar with the cockpit voice recording claimed it was the senior pilot who had cut the fuel supply.

 

On Monday evening, a Delhi–Kolkata Air India flight carrying 160 passengers aborted take-off at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi after a technical issue was detected during take-off. A similar incident occurred earlier the same day when another Air India flight, AI2744 from Kochi, skidded off the runway after touchdown at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.