In another troubling incident involving Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner fleet, a Delhi-bound flight was forced to return to Hong Kong shortly after take-off on Monday following a suspected technical malfunction. The flight — AI315 — safely landed back at Hong Kong International Airport just under an hour after departure, adding to growing concerns over the safety of Dreamliner aircraft operated by the airline.
According to aviation monitoring websites and media reports, the aircraft took off around 12:16pm local time (Hong Kong), climbed to an altitude of 22,000ft, and then began descending after the pilot requested to remain in Hong Kong airspace due to an undisclosed technical issue. The pilot informed air traffic control that the crew did not wish to proceed further and intended to return.
According to recordings posted on air traffic control monitoring website LiveATC.net, and reviewed by Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/world/china/air-indias-dreamliner-returns-hong-kong-after-technical-issue-mid-air-ani-2025-06-16/), one of the pilots in the plane told air traffic controllers around 15 minutes after takeoff that "for technical reasons, sir, we would like to stay closer to Hong Kong, maybe we will come back and land back into Hong Kong once we sort out the problem."
"We don't want to continue further," the pilot said, before returning.
Passengers were safely disembarked and alternate arrangements are being made to fly them to Delhi.
The incident comes less than a week after a devastating crash involving another Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that claimed 279 lives, including 241 passengers and crew on board and 38 people on the ground. That aircraft — flight AI171 — had taken off from Ahmedabad en route to London on 12th June and crashed minutes later into a medical college campus, making it one of India’s worst aviation disasters.
The return of AI315 marks the second such mid-air scare involving a Boeing Dreamliner headed to India within two days. On Sunday, a British Airways flight BA35 bound for Chennai had to return to London Heathrow due to a similar technical issue. The Dreamliner had been airborne for nearly two hours before the pilot decided to turn back 'as a standard precaution'.
While both aircraft landed safely, the recurrence of technical faults aboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — particularly so soon after the Ahmedabad crash — is heightening concerns over the aircraft’s reliability and operational safety.
The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has already launched a sweeping review of all Boeing 787 aircraft operating in India, particularly those fitted with General Electric’s GenX engines, the same type used in the Ahmedabad crash aircraft.
A high-level inquiry panel, comprising senior officials from DGCA, the aircraft accident investigation bureau (AAIB), and independent aviation safety experts, has been tasked with examining technical records, maintenance logs and pilot actions related to AI171.
The back-to-back incidents are likely to fuel further public and regulatory scrutiny of Air India’s fleet management practices. Public anger has intensified, especially from victims’ families who have demanded accountability for what they perceive as systemic lapses in maintenance, oversight and crew training.
With 33 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in service, Air India is India’s largest operator of the aircraft type. However, the string of recent safety issues has cast a long shadow over its operations at a time when the airline is attempting a large-scale fleet overhaul under the Tata group.
Monday’s Air India scare comes just days after a Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight (LH752) was also diverted back to Frankfurt. Initial confusion surrounded the cause, with Lufthansa citing a lack of landing clearance, while Indian officials linked the diversion to a bomb threat.
With three serious mid-air incidents involving India-bound international flights in less than a week, aviation safety in Indian airspace is back under the spotlight. While no injuries were reported in the latest Air India return from Hong Kong, the optics of another Dreamliner glitch — so soon after a catastrophic crash — are certain to raise alarms among passengers and regulators.
Whether these events reflect deeper flaws in fleet readiness or are unfortunate technical anomalies, public trust in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner—and Air India's operational oversight—will likely remain under pressure until the ongoing investigations yield answers.
