Air India international aircraft stranded at Calcutta Airport due to technical snags
Telegraph | 3 July 2025
Two Boeing aircraft, operated by Air India, are stranded at Calcutta Airport because of technical snags.
One of them, a San Francisco-Mumbai flight that had developed a technical snag before takeoff, has been stranded since June 17.
The other on, a Tokyo-Delhi flight which was diverted to Calcutta on Sunday afternoon, is also parked at Calcutta airport.
According to airport officials, it was unusual for an aircraft that developed a technical snag to remain stranded for two weeks.
“Usually, it takes four to five days for an airline to repair the stranded aircraft and reinstate it into the fleet for operation, unless there is a major problem. Even if the spare parts need to be flown in from the manufacturer’s base in the US or Europe, it does not take more than a week for the repair,” said an official at the Calcutta airport.
Sources said that after the June 12 crash of Air India’s Ahmedabad-London flight seconds after takeoff, the airline’s Dreamliner series aircraft are undergoing stringent checks along with other planes in the fleet.
“This could be the reason for the delay in the repair of the aircraft stranded at Calcutta airport since June 17,” said an official of the civil aviation ministry.
Air India sources said the airline has 33 Dreamliner series aircraft, which had to undergo one-time checks after the crash, overseen by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). Now, 29 aircraft have completed the checks while four are undergoing routine major maintenance. Once those come back, the aircraft have to undergo similar checks.
These checks and snags, along with flight path divertions to avoid war zones, have forced Air India to cancel many flights on several international routes.
The Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai with 228 onboard was grounded at Calcutta airport on June 17 after a technical snag was detected in the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft that had stopped to refuel.
The plane, carrying 211 passengers and 17 crew members, had landed at Calcutta airport at 12.47am. Several passengers of AI180 had alleged that they had to wait inside the aircraft for nearly five hours before being allowed to disembark. They also claimed that there was no proper communication from Air India officials.
Some passengers, who were anxious about flying following the crash of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad on June 12 that killed 241 onboard, said they were relieved that the snag was detected before the plane took off for Mumbai.
The second Air India aircraft stranded at the airport had landed in Calcutta on June 29.
The flight, a Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner from Tokyo to Delhi carrying 243 passengers, was diverted to the Calcutta airport after the air conditioning system malfunctioned, said airport officials.
Passengers were stranded at the Calcutta airport for over eight hours.
The Boeing 777-200 aircraft, stranded since June 17, was first taken to parking stand 115 and later shifted to stand number 12, said airport officials.
The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner is at parking stand 114, said officials.
Calcutta airport has 76 parking bays.
“Flight AI180 operating San Francisco-Mumbai made its scheduled technical stop in Calcutta on 17 June, 2025. During routine checks on the aircraft before departing for Mumbai, an extended maintenance task was advised, which required rectification before the next flight. In the interest of passenger convenience, an alternative aircraft was arranged at the earliest opportunity to fly the passengers to Mumbai on the same evening. The aircraft on the ground will return to service as soon as the maintenance task concludes,” said a spokesperson of Air India.
Boeing refused to comment.
“Air India flight crash is under investigation now, and so it is not possible to comment,” said Boeing.