Air India Ahmedabad-London Flight Cancelled Days After Deadly Crash

Air India on Tuesday cancelled its Ahmedabad-London Gatwick service - AI 159 - citing unavailability of aircraft due to airspace restrictions and additional safety checks. These delays led to a longer-than-usual turnaround of aircraft, the airline statement said. There was no technical snag, Air India stressed.

The airline said it regretted the inconvenience caused and that alternative arrangements had been made to fly passengers to their destination. The airline said it had also provided hotel accommodation for the stranded passengers and would offer either a full refund or complimentary rescheduling.

A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as AI 159 was scheduled to depart at 1.10 pm.

This comes days after the horrific crash of Air India's AI 171 - also a 787-8 Dreamliner and flying the same sector, i.e., from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed seconds after take-off.

Videos showed the Air India plane slamming into buildings bordering the airport, including a college hostel, and exploding into a terrifying fireball that killed 241 of the 242 people on board.

At least 33 people on the ground were also killed.

Air India retired the 171 call sign as a mark of respect.

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In the aftermath of the June 12 AI-171 crash three other India-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliners - operated by British Airways, Lufthansa, and Air India - were forced to return to origin airports.

One of those was a Hong Kong-Delhi AI flight that returned 15 minutes after taking off; Air India said AI-315 turned around because of a "technical issue" but gave no further details.

The other two were from Frankfurt (to Hyderabad) and London (to Chennai).

Early Tuesday an Air India San Francisco-Mumbai flight via Kolkata also suffered a technical snag. Passengers were deboarded during a halt at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport.

The flight had a problem in the left engine, news agency PTI reported.

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Meanwhile, flight and voice data recorders from the crashed plane have been recovered and the information is being analysed, the government has said. A high-level committee has been set up to oversee the inquiry and also suggest measures to prevent such terrifying accidents.