An Air India flight from Bengaluru to London was diverted to Jeddah due to a suspected technical fault, the airline said on Monday.
Flight AI133, operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, landed safely in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at around 2pm GMT, with all passengers and crew confirmed unharmed.
The flight had been in the air more than six hours when it was diverted, Flightradar24 reported.
Air India said the diversion was a precautionary measure and that the plane was undergoing technical inspections "in accordance with established safety protocols”.
“Air India Flight AI133, operating from Bengaluru to London Heathrow on 23 March, made a precautionary en route diversion to Jeddah following a suspected technical issue,” the airline declared in a statement.
The airline did not disclose how many passengers and crew were on board but said their safety and wellbeing were its “highest priority”.
This is the second such incident involving Air India in recent days. A flight bound for Vancouver returned to Delhi on 19 March after about seven hours in the air as the Boeing 777-200LR was found not to have been cleared for the route, the result of an apparent lapse in updating operational requirements for flights to Canada.
The aircraft, registered VT-AEI, had already crossed into Chinese airspace before reversing course, according to Flightradar24. The airline said all passengers and crew disembarked safely in Delhi.
Monday’s diversion comes as airlines operating in the Gulf airspace face heightened disruption due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Several carriers have rerouted or cancelled flights through the Gulf, adding pressure to routes that connect South Asia and the Middle East with Europe.
The latest Air India incident stretches a difficult period for global aviation safety. Late on Sunday, an Air Canada Express flight struck a ground vehicle after landing at the LaGuardia airport in New York, killing both pilots and injuring dozens of people.
The aircraft, a CRJ-900LR which had arrived from Montreal, collided with a Port Authority vehicle, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily close the airport to incoming flights.
In June last year, an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed seconds after taking off in the western city of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.
In January 2025, an American Airlines jet collided with a military helicopter near Washington in one of the deadliest civil aviation disasters in recent American history.
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