Air India Boeing 787 leaves Hong Kong but turns around due to “technical issue” just days after deadly crash

Hong Kong — An Air India flight returned to Hong Kong on Monday shortly after takeoff due to a midair “technical issue,” the airline said, just four days after another one of the company’s flights crashed and killed at least 270 people. The plane that turned around on Monday was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, as was the Air India flight that crashed into buildings in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday morning.

Air India said in a statement that the New Delhi-bound plane landed back in Hong Kong safely Monday and was undergoing checks “as a matter of abundant precaution.” 

Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a separate statement that flight AI315 returned to the southern Chinese city’s airport around 1 p.m.

Flight AI315 was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as was AI171, the Air India flight that struck a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad just minutes after it took off from the city’s airport on Thursday. The crash killed 241 people on board the plane and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger, a British national, survived.

Air India, the nation’s flag carrier airline, said alternative arrangements were made to fly the affected passengers from the Hong Kong to New Delhi flight to their destination at the earliest convenience.

Indian authorities ordered Air India to carry out additional safety checks on all of the airline’s Boeing 787s in the wake of the Thursday crash, but neither those authorities nor Boeing have suggested grounding the planes. 

There are more than 360 Boeing 787-8s in service around the world, with American Airlines operating more than any other carrier.