A Mumbai-bound Air India flight AI180 from San Francisco was halted in Kolkata early Tuesday after one of its engines suffered a technical snag , news agency PTI reported.

All passengers were deplaned safely at about 0520 hours during the scheduled halt at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

Even after arriving on time at 0045 hrs, the flight was delayed in takeoff from the San Francisco airport due to the technical snag in its left engine.

The decision was made in interest of flight safety, the captain  was quoted as saying to the passengers on board.

The halts and mid-air returns of several flights including those of Air India comes days after a London Gatwick-bound Air India Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 crashed minutes after takeoff near the Ahmedabad airport on June 12. Except one survivor, all 241 passengers including two pilots were killed along with several on ground at the time.

With PTI inputs