British F-35 fighter jet stranded in India for over a month takes off after inspiring memes
The stealth fighter, one of the world's most advanced and costing around $115 million, was grounded at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in the southern state of Kerala due to technical snags.
The aircraft had hydraulic issues and problems with its auxiliary power unit that have been fixed, said the Thiruvananthapuram official, who wasn't authorized to speak with the media and requested anonymity.
The aircraft will fly to a British aircraft carrier in Darwin, Australia, the official said.
The British High Commission and U.K.'s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The jet was on a regular sortie in the Arabian Sea in June when it ran into bad weather and couldn't return to the Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales. The aircraft diverted to Thiruvananthapuram and landed safely June 14.
The stranded military aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, triggered A.I.-generated memes in India. A Kerala tourism department social media post showed the plane on the tarmac surrounded by coconut trees with a fictitious five-star review: 'Kerala is such an amazing place, I don't want to leave. Definitely recommend."
The top official at the tourism department, K. Biju, said the post was in 'good humor.'
'It was our way to appreciate and thank the Brits who are the biggest inbound visitors to Kerala for tourism,' Biju said.
Another cartoon posted on X showed the plane enjoying snacks with a group of locals against a scenic background.
There was speculation in India that the aircraft could be partially dismantled and transported in a cargo plane if repairs were unsuccesful. The U.K. Ministry of Defense dismissed the speculation in a statement.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
MakeMyTrip Moves Closer to ‘Travel Superapp' Vision with Experiences Launch
On Thursday, MakeMyTrip announced it has launched a platform for booking international tours and experiences giving Indian travelers access to over 200,000 activities in 130 countries. Last year, Co-Founder and Group CEO Rajesh Magow had told Skift that the online travel agency would be bringing back experiences. MakeMyTrip had a similar product for attractions before the pandemic. The company shelved it during Covid. Experiences are a big part of travel spending. Magow noted in a release on Thursday, 'Experiences account for a significant share of spending when Indians travel overseas, yet discovering and booking them remains one of the most fragmented aspects of the journey.' The move is a piece of a much larger plan the company has been working on for years: to become a one-stop platform for every part of the trip and and keep more of the traveler's journey within its ecosystem. Since the pandemic, the company has expanded into several new areas — forex, car rentals, business travel tools, and even travel insurance. What This Has to Do with the 'Connected Trip' In the past year Magow has also been talking a lot about what he calls a 'connected trip.' It's a simple idea: travelers shouldn't have to piece together a trip from a dozen different sources. Flights, hotels, airport rides, insurance, and now experiences, should all be available on one platform. And more importantly, should 'talk to each other.' But that's easier said than done. Magow admitted it's a tough problem. 'The execution aspect of that is a nightmare,' he told Skift earlier. Even if all the options are available, it's hard to make sure they all work together smoothly and feel like one continuous experience. The experiences platform ties directly into this bigger plan. Now, travelers can plan and book their entire trip within the MakeMyTrip app. Everything, including these new tours and attractions, is stored under the 'MyTrips' section. What The Platform Offers The platform offers everything from must-see tourist spots to more unique experiences. Think: Disneyland in Paris, helicopter ride over Hawaii's Kauai Island, a walk through Tokyo's Asakusa district with a sumo demonstration. The service will be supported by a 24/7 travel assistance desk, and everything can be booked in Indian Rupees, MakeMyTrip said in a statement. Right now, the focus is mostly on experiences outside India. Magow had earlier told Skift that these experiences are currently more focused on foreign destinations, as the offerings for domestic destinations are 'still developing.' The Bigger Plan: Becoming a Travel Superapp MakeMyTrip isn't trying to become a superapp in the way other apps have tried to be everything for everyone. Their focus remains squarely on travel. But within that, the company wants to offer everything. Speaking at the Skift India Forum earlier this year, Magow had said the company is also looking to have cruises come on the platform. A market he called 'interesting,' but 'the awareness around it isn't very high.' From cruises to experiences and car rentals, the company is pushing into new areas while trying to keep the booking experience simple. The strategy is about giving users more reasons to keep coming back. As Magow put it, travelers may not book everything in one go, but if the platform can follow them through the whole planning process and offer helpful tools at each step, it can earn more over time. Challenges Ahead There's no shortage of ambition. But ambition alone doesn't solve the core problems: technical complexity, supply-side issues, and shifting consumer behavior. Integrating everything under one platform while keeping the user experience smooth is a tough job. And Magow is well aware of it. 'If the customer experience in one of the icons is broken, then it won't work,' he had told Skift, referring to the different services within the app. On top of that, entering new areas means building strong supply chains and partnerships. 'When you get into a new service, you have to have a benchmark,' Magow said, 'but how do I get to that position in an accelerated fashion? That's a challenge.' Why It May Work Anyway India's travel market is changing fast. Travelers are taking more trips, spending more on experiences, and increasingly planning online. According to internal data MakeMyTrip shared, frequent users are now booking more trips each year than they used to. With incomes rising and middle-class demand growing, there's a clear opportunity. The big question is whether MakeMyTrip can move fast enough, and stay reliable enough, to catch and hold on to that opportunity. MakeMyTrip Co-founder and Group CEO at Skift India Forum Get breaking travel news and exclusive hotel, airline, and tourism research and insights at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Plane with 49 people disappears from radar over Russia's Far East
MOSCOW (AP) — A plane carrying 49 people has disappeared from radar over Russia's Far Eastern Amur region, local officials said Thursday. Forty-three passengers, including five children, as well as six crew members were on board the flight from the city of Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border to the town of Tynda, regional Gov. Vasily Orlov said.
CNN
7 hours ago
- CNN
Indian and Chinese travelers hail end of visa freeze between world's two most populous nations as diplomatic tensions thaw
They are the two most populous countries in the world and neighbors clamoring for more tourists, but for much of the last five years it has been difficult for Indian and Chinese nationals to vacation in each other's nations. Now that looks set to finally change as previous fractious relations between the two Asian giants finally begin to thaw. India will issue tourist visas for Chinese citizens for the first time in five years, allowing nationals from its neighboring country to freely visit each other, marking a significant reset in relations after a deadly border clash sent ties into a deep freeze. From Thursday, July 24, Chinese citizens can apply for tourist visas to India, the Indian embassy in Beijing said Wednesday. This 'positive news' is in the 'common interests of all parties,' China's foreign spokesperson Guo Jiakun said. 'China is willing to maintain communication and consultation with India to continuously improve the level of facilitation of personnel exchanges between the two countries.' There has been a gradual normalization of ties between India and China in recent months after relations were deeply strained in June 2020, when a brutal hand-to-hand battle in the Galwan Valley left at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead. Both nations maintain a heavy military presence along their 2,100-mile (3,379-kilometer) de facto border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – a boundary that remains undefined and has been a persistent source of friction since their bloody 1962 war. The 2020 clash in the disputed region between Indian Ladakh and Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin marked the first deadly confrontation along India and China's disputed border in more than 40 years. Tensions escalated in the aftermath. India banned multiple Chinese apps, heightened scrutiny of Chinese investments and direct air routes between the two neighbors were canceled. Both countries had shut their borders to foreign tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but visa restrictions continued even as global travel began to resume. China lifted tourist visa restrictions for Indian nationals in March after Beijing and New Delhi announced they would work to resume direct air travel, according to Reuters. Now India's reciprocal move is seen as a welcome move by many. 'Inbound tourism is going through tough period post Covid, so it is good for us that another market has opened,' according to Sarvjeet Sankrit, founder of the Delhi-based travel agency Ghum India Ghum (Roam India Roam), who said he saw 'lots of Chinese tourists' visit the capital before the visa ban. India lifting restrictions is 'a good thing for vehicle owners, guides, and hotel owners,' he said. 'Everyone will get more business.' Chinese national Kate Hu, whose boyfriend is from India, said she is excited at the prospect of finally being able to visit his family. The Hong Kong-based comedian had already booked tickets to visit India for his sister's wedding in April when she found out she couldn't get the visa. 'I lost a bit of money there,' Hu said. 'We had talked about getting married just to have the visa, so now I'm happy to hear I won't have to get married just for a visa,' she joked. Her boyfriend is currently in India to take care of his sick mother. 'If this (news) had come out sooner, then I could have gone with him,' she said. Pradeep K, a consultant in Delhi called India's latest move is 'a good thing,' adding 'people of India and China will get to interact more.' He said he is excited at the prospect of traveling to China to see pandas. 'Will a diplomatic move on paper change mindsets and bring people closer? Your guess is as good as mine.' India's decision to remove visa restrictions is the latest in a string of steps taken by New Delhi and Beijing to reset ties after Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last October. In January, India and China agreed to resume direct commercial flights and Beijing recently agreed to reopen Mount Kailash and Lash Manasarovar in western Tibet to Indian pilgrims for the first time in five years. Earlier this month, India's foreign minister S. Jaishankar met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, where the two 'took note of the recent progress made by the two sides to stabilize and rebuild ties, with priority on people-centric engagements,' according to a statement from the Indian foreign ministry. There has been a 'gradual normalization of the India-China relationship,' said Harsh V. Pant, foreign policy head at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank. 'There is a certain recalibration happening from both ends. But this is also a reflection that India faces a unique challenge in managing China,' he added. Despite the ongoing tensions, India is still economically dependent on China and sees 'a possibility of building an economic partnership' while making its red lines clear, Pant said. Delhi-based teacher Saurabhi Singh said while India and China have fought wars in the past, 'relations can and should change.' She added: 'We have labor, markets, manufacturing abilities and a fondness for food, tea, electronics that connect people of both countries.'
