Midair emergencies force four Boeing Dreamliners to divert India flights

India Gazette

17-06-2025

Air India, Lufthansa and British Airways have cited technical issues for the diversions
Four Boeing 787 Dreamliners on international flights to India have been forced to turn back due to technical issues over the past few days, according to media reports.
On Sunday, a Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt returned to the German airport midway through the journey based on a suspected bomb threat, according to sources quoted by the media outlet India Today. Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Hyderabad airport received a message that the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was returning to Frankfurt after having taken off.
On Monday, Air India flight AI315 was forced to return to Hong Kong just 15 minutes after taking off, Reuters reported. The airline confirmed the incident, citing a "technical issue" as the reason for the return, but did not provide further details. The Boeing 787-8 aircraft successfully landed without incident, and alternate arrangements were made for the passengers.
Also on Monday, a British Airways flight carrying 214 passengers to Chennai was forced to dump fuel and return to London after the pilots reported a suspected technical issue, Business Insider reported. "The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue," a BA spokesperson told the website, adding that there was no "emergency landing."
In a similar incident, passengers on an Air India San Francisco-Mumbai flight were asked to deplane in Kolkata on Tuesday after a snag was detected in the left engine during a scheduled stop, delaying the onward journey by hours, an India Today report said. These developments come just days after an Air India 787-8 crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, killing 290 people.
READ MORE: Air India disaster death toll climbs to 270
Officials told the Associated Press that early indications suggest the aircraft may not have been correctly configured for takeoff. There have been numerous complaints, whistleblower revelations and concerns regarding the safety of Boeing 787s, according to media reports.
In 2019, a New York Times report revealed that John Barnett, a former quality manager who retired in 2017, had filed a whistleblower complaint alleging subpar work on the 787s. In January 2024, another whistleblower alleged that the Dreamliner's fuselage had improper connections, with gaps that could cause it to break apart in flight.