Another day, another Air India Boeing 787 scare – is safety finally a priority?

On Monday, June 16, 2025, air travelers faced fresh concerns, especially those flying with Air India, as one of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner planes had to turn back to Hong Kong shortly after taking off for New Delhi. This incident, caused by a mid-air “technical issue,” happened just days after a deadly crash involving another Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, making passengers and the public even more worried about the airline’s operations and this specific aircraft model.

Flight AI315, traveling from Hong Kong to New Delhi, left around 12:16 PM local time. However, the trip was interrupted when the pilot noticed a possible technical problem. Because of this, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, a modern wide-body jet, turned around and headed back to Hong Kong. The plane landed safely at Hong Kong International Airport around 1 PM, just over an hour after takeoff.

Air India later released a statement confirming the incident, obtained by Reuters and CBS, and said the aircraft was being carefully inspected “as a matter of extreme caution.” The airline did not immediately reveal the exact nature of the technical issue or whether a definite problem was found, but the pilot’s concern alone was enough to justify the return. For the passengers, this unexpected delay meant Air India had to make new travel arrangements to get them to their destination as soon as possible while also providing support on the ground to lessen the inconvenience.

Air India a lot more careful after deadly crash

This mid-flight return in Hong Kong came only four days after a much more tragic event involving another Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Air India flight AI171, also a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed in Ahmedabad, a city in western India. The disaster happened just minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport when the plane hit a medical college hostel. The crash resulted in a horrific loss of life, with all 241 people on the plane dying, along with at least 29 people on the ground.

The total death toll surpassed 270, making it one of the worst aviation disasters in recent memory. Only one passenger, a British citizen, survived the crash. The fact that both incidents involved the same type of plane operated by the same airline has understandably raised serious questions and fears.

After the Ahmedabad tragedy, Indian authorities acted quickly, ordering Air India to conduct extra safety checks on all its Boeing 787s. This move was meant to address the crash’s severity and restore trust in the airline. Despite this increased scrutiny, neither Indian officials nor Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, have called for a global or Air India-specific grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. This suggests that while they are being cautious, there is no evidence yet of a widespread issue requiring taking all these planes out of service.