An Air India Boeing 787-8 flying from Delhi to Birmingham (UK) has been forced to land in Russia after the crew reported an unspecified technical issue with their aircraft to air traffic controllers.
The incident occurred on September 4, 2024, as flight AI113 made its way from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Birmingham International Airport (BHX). The flight was carrying 258 passengers and 17 crew and is a regular scheduled service for the carrier.
Having departed Delhi a little late at 14:41 local time, the aircraft (a Boeing 787-8 registered VT-AMP) had been flying for around six hours and was cruising at 40,000ft when the crew first noticed the technical issue. At this stage, the flight was reportedly about 140nm (224km) west of Moscow, according to the Aviation Herald.
The crew subsequently elected to divert the flight and make a precautionary landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) where the carrier has maintenance support. The aircraft landed without incident at 16:26 local time in Moscow.
According to data obtained from Flightradar24, the aircraft remained on the ground in Moscow for just over seven hours around before it departed once more bound for Birmingham, where it eventually landed at 01:12 on the morning of September 5, 2024.
“The aircraft’s crew requested an unscheduled landing at Sheremetyevo Airport after encountering technical problems,” the airport said in a statement. “Airport services promptly responded to the crew’s request and prepared to receive the aircraft according to the applicable emergency plan. The foreign crew received full assistance from the Russian airport and specialists under the applicable international convention.”
The incident marks the second occasion in as many months for the airline where one of its aircraft has made an unscheduled landing at a Russian airport following an inflight technical issue. In July 2024, an Air India flight en route from Delhi to San Francisco was forced to make an emergency landing in Russia’s Siberia region following the crew’s identification of a possible issue in the cargo hold.
The Boeing 777-200LR was diverted to Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on July 18, 2024, after it suffered a “potential issue in the cargo hold area”. The aircraft was about six hours into its 15-hour flight when it diverted.
Meanwhile, in June 2023, another Air India flight operating from Delhi to San Francisco had to divert to the remote Russian town of Magadan after an engine issue caused the flight to discontinue its journey to the US west coast city.