Three India-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliners have been forced to return back to base within a 36-hour period after being hit with problems. The Air India passenger jets -the same type as the aircraft involved in last week’s tragedy in Ahmedabad-suffered a mix of issues from a bomb threat to a technical glitch.
The planes were bound for Chennai, Hyderabad and New Delhi. One of the aircrafts took off from Hong Kong as normal, however, it was forced to turn back after the pilot reported technical issues mid-air. Flight AI315 took off from Hong Kong at 12.06pm and landed just over an hour later, according to tracking data on Flightradar24. It is unknown at this time the cause of the suspected technical snag.
The airline said in a statement that the flight landed safely in Hong Kong and all passengers disembarked from the plane. An inspection of the aircraft is underway, it added.
A spokesperson for Air India said: “AI315 operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 16 June 2025 returned to Hong Kong shortly after takeoff due to a technical issue. The flight landed safely at Hong Kong and is undergoing checks as a matter of abundant precaution.
“Alternative arrangements have been planned to fly the passengers to their destination Delhi at the earliest.
On Sunday, a British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Chennai had to turn around mid-air when it suffered a “technical issue”.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was less than an hour into its journey.
The airline’s statement said: “The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would, and our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”
It comes just days after an Air India Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 229 passengers and 12 crew, with one person surviving the crash.
Also on Sunday, a Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt returned to the German airport, midway through the flight, following a bomb threat.
The flight LH752, also a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, took off from Germany around 2:14pm, local time, and was scheduled to land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the early hours of Monday morning.
Lufthansa says authorities were alerted to a bomb threat on social media and the plane turned around as an “abundance of caution”.
The full statement read: “Out of an abundance of caution, Lufthansa flight LH752 from Frankfurt to Hyderabad returned to its point of departure after authorities were made aware of a bomb threat posted on social media.
“Affected passengers were provided with accommodation in Frankfurt and will be continuing their journey to Hyderabad today.”