In a concerning turn of events, three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft bound for India were forced to return mid-air within a span of just 36 hours due to a bomb threat and technical snags, raising fresh safety concerns among air passengers and authorities. The incidents involved flights heading to Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad, operated by Air India, British Airways, and Lufthansa respectively. These incidents comes days after an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft bound for London crashed in Ahmedabad, shortly after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 passengers on board.
A Delhi-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Hong Kong returned to its airport of origin on Monday within an hour of takeoff after the pilot in command suspected a technical issue. The pilots of the Delhi-bound Air India flight, which returned to Hong Kong after nearly 90 minutes of take-off, didn’t want to continue their journey after a suspected technical glitch was detected in the aircraft. The pilot could be heard telling Air Traffic Control, “We don’t want to continue further.” An audio of the pilot’s conversation with the Air Traffic Control has emerged where they are heard saying that they don’t want to continue and return to the airport.
The aircraft involved in the incident was also a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, the same aircraft model which crashed shortly after taking-off from Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, June 12, killing 241 out of 242 on board.
The flight, AI 315, landed safely in Hong Kong and all passengers have disembarked from the plane, the airline said in a statement, adding that the aircraft is undergoing inspection.
The flight departed from Hong Kong at 12.16 pm (local time) and was scheduled to land in Delhi at 12.20 pm IST. The flight had departed after a delay of almost 3.5 hours as its scheduled departure was at 8.50 am, as per flight tracking website flightradar24.Com.
“AI315 operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 16 June 2025 returned to Hong Kong shortly after takeoff due to a technical issue. The flight landed safely at Hong Kong and is undergoing checks as a matter of abundant precaution. Alternative arrangements have been planned to fly the passengers to their destination Delhi at the earliest,” Air India said.
“We are providing all necessary on-ground assistance to the passengers to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption,” it said. The spokesperson of Airport Authority Hong Kong said, “A passenger flight, AI315, operated by Air India from Hong Kong to New Delhi made a return to Hong Kong International Airport and requested local standby around 1pm today (Monday). The flight landed safely around 1.15 pm. The airport operations were not affected.”
Prior to this, a Lufthansa flight to Hyderabad that was forced to make a U-turn and return to land at Frankfurt Airport due to a bomb threat is now en route and scheduled to land in the Telangana capital on Monday night local time. “The flight took off and is expected to land at 23:18 hrs,” Lufthansa said in response to a query.
Flight tracker website Flightaware.Com data shows Sunday’s aborted flight was en route to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. Flight LH752 had earlier departed from Germany on Sunday afternoon local time and was scheduled to land at the Hyderabad airport in the early hours of Monday, but Lufthansa said it had to be turned around over a bomb threat, with passengers provided overnight accommodation.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Lufthansa flight LH752 from Frankfurt to Hyderabad returned to its point of departure after authorities were made aware of a bomb threat posted on social media,” Lufthansa said in a statement. “The safety of our passengers and crew is Lufthansa’s highest priority. Affected passengers were provided with accommodation in Frankfurt and will be continuing their journey to Hyderabad today,” the statement said.
In Hyderabad, airport sources on Monday said, “A bomb threat email targeting Lufthansa flight LH 752 was received at the Hyderabad airport at 18:01 hrs on 15th June 2025.”
They said a bomb threat assessment committee was formed and all procedures were followed as per standard operating procedure. In the interest of safety, the airline was advised to divert back to the origin or the nearest suitable airport.
Flight LH 752 — operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft — departed from Frankfurt at 14.29 hours instead of its scheduled departure time of 13.05 hours, as per flight tracking website flightradar24.Com. The aircraft was to land in Hyderabad at 1.20 hours, as per the website.
In the third incident, another Boeing 787 Dreamliner, this time operated by British Airways, was forced to return to London Heathrow after facing a technical issue mid-air on Sunday. The flight had departed for Chennai following a 36-minute delay, and after takeoff, it was seen circling over the Strait of Dover multiple times before heading back to London, according to tracking data from Flightradar24. British Airways issued a statement saying, “The flight landed safely with crew and customers disembarking as they normally would. Our teams are working hard to get their journeys back on track as soon as possible.”
In the fourth incident, a Saudia Airlines plane from Jeddah carrying 242 Haj pilgrims caused an alarm at the airport here on Sunday when smoke and sparks were detected from its wheels while landing. Smoke was seen emanating from the left wheel as the Saudi Arabia Airlines flight landed at Lucknow airport,prompting an immediate emergency response.
The Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) team acted swiftly to contain the smoke, preventing any damage to the aircraft. All passengers were safely deboarded and flight operations continued at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport.
According to sources, sparks and smoke were seen coming from the aircraft’s wheel as it touched down around 6:30 am. The aircraft, flight SV 3112, had departed from Jeddah at 10:45 pm the previous night with 250 Hajj pilgrims and crew members onboard.
The incident occurred while the plane was taxiing on the runway. The pilot promptly brought the aircraft to a halt, and the airport’s fire and rescue team responded immediately, bringing the situation under control within 20 minutes.Preliminary investigation points to a hydraulic system leak as the cause of the malfunction. The plane, an Airbus A330-343, left Jeddah at 10:45 pm and reached Lucknow around 6:50 am, according to data from Flightradar24.