New Delhi, March 26 Air India's A350 aircraft en route to London Heathrow returned to the national capital on Thursday afternoon after being airborne for nearly seven hours due to a technical issue.
The same A350-900 aircraft, VT-JRF, had experienced a technical issue on March 15, following which the flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to the Irish town of Shannon, sources said.
An Air India spokesperson said that its flight AI111, operating from Delhi to London on Thursday, made a precautionary air return to the national capital following a suspected technical issue.
"The aircraft landed safely and in accordance with Air India's high safety standards. It is currently undergoing extensive technical evaluations, which will require additional time to complete," the spokesperson said in a statement.
According to sources, noises were heard on the aircraft, which prompted the diversion.
The spokesperson also expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the unforeseen situation and said that the airline was making every effort to ensure that passengers could continue their journey to London as soon as possible.
Details about the number of passengers on board could not be ascertained.
The aircraft operating flight AI111 was airborne for around four hours before the decision was made to divert the plane when it was in the airspace of Saudi Arabia. In total, the plane was airborne for nearly seven hours before landing back in the national capital, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
The flight took off from Delhi around 6 am on Thursday and landed back at about 12:30 pm.
Air India started operating A350-900 planes from January 2024.