Mumbai-Bound Air India Flight Forced To Divert Shortly After Takeoff Due To Suspected Technical Snag

Representative image. (Photo: IANS)

An Air India flight from Jaipur to Mumbai was forced to return to Jaipur soon after takeoff on Friday due to a suspected technical problem, officials told PTI.

According to a report in the Times of India, Air India confirmed the news in a statement and said that flight number AI612, from Jaipur to Mumbai, returned to Jaipur soon after take-off due to a suspected technical fault. However, after investigation, no actual fault was found and the plane was allowed to fly again.

This comes two day after an Air India Express flight (IX375) from Kozhikode to Doha returned to its origin shortly after takeoff due to a technical issue. The flight took off at 9:17 AM and landed safely back at Calicut International Airport at 11:12 AM.

On July 22, an Air India flight operating from Hong Kong to Delhi suffered an auxiliary power unit (APU) fire shortly after the aircraft landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

The APU is a small engine located typically at the tail of an aircraft. It provides power to essential systems when the main engines are off, such as during boarding, disembarkation, or while the aircraft is parked at the gate.

According to the airline, the incident occurred while the aircraft was parked at the gate and passengers had begun to disembark.

“Flight AI 315, operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 22 July 2025, experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) fire shortly after it had landed and parked at the gate. The incident occurred while passengers had begun disembarking, and the APU was automatically shut down as per system design," an Air India spokesperson said in a statement.

No injuries were reported among the passengers or crew members. The aircraft remains grounded at Delhi pending a technical evaluation and inspection by regulatory authorities.

On Monday, a technical issue was detected during the take-off roll of Air India flight AI2403 from Delhi to Kolkata evening, which led the cockpit crew to abort the take-off in line with established safety protocols.

(With ANI Inputs)