Air India Delhi-San Francisco flight returns after 9 hours in air due to technical snag

NEW DELHI: A San Francisco-bound Air India Boeing 777 with about 250 people onboard returned to Delhi after flying for almost nine hours on Wednesday. The wide body aircraft’s (VT ALL) traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) was not working properly. Since having a functional TCAS is mandatory over the North Atlantic oceanic region that it was to overfly enroute to its destination, AI decided to ask the pilots to fly back to Delhi when the aircraft was overflying China.

“Globally, a functional TCAS is mandatory for all aircraft flying over 29,000 feet. Apart from this, there are region-specific requirements which bar aircraft without TCAS from flying at any altitude. These include places like the EU and Dubai. TCAS allows planes to ‘talk to’ each other if they get too close and then one will descend and the other climb to avoid collision,” said senior pilots.





The aircraft, which had left Delhi at 3.09 am, returned to IGI Airport just after noon. A B777 burns about 8-9 tonnes of fuel every hour, depending on wind flows and other factors. At a time when oil prices are on fire and rupee touches new life-lows on a daily basis, this was one technical snag the loss-making airline could have done without.

In a statement, AI said: “AI 173 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 27 has returned to Delhi due to a technical issue in accordance with the laid down procedures. The aircraft landed safely and will undergo technical inspection in line with Air India's safety standards. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers and are making alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination as soon as possible… our ground teams are providing all necessary assistance to the passengers, including refreshments, hotel accommodation or rescheduling as opted by them. The safety and well-being of passengers and crew remain Air India’s highest priority.”

This is at least the second time in just over two months that an AI aircraft leaded to the west coast had to return to Delhi after flying for many hours. On March 19, a Vancouver-bound B777-200 long range had returned after nearly nine hours. The reason: AI’s B777-300 extended range (ER) fleet had the clearance to operate to Canada and not the B777-200 long range (LR) version that had been inadvertently sent that day.

AI is trying to cut costs after suffering a huge loss last fiscal and has significantly reduced its flights.