In a new round of flight cancellations, Air India on Tuesday suspended Flight AI 143 from Delhi to Paris following routine pre-flight checks that revealed a technical problem that is being worked out.
Consequently, the return trip—Paris to Delhi Flight AI 142 on June 18, 2025—also stands cancelled. The airline, in a statement, cited "restrictions on night operations at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport" as the reason for this cancellation.
"These flights are being replaced by alternative arrangements for their travel to their destination at the earliest," Air India said, promising affected travelers hotel stay and the choice of a full refund or free rebooking.
Earlier on the day, another flight—AI-159, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight on the Ahmedabad-London-Gatwick sector—was also cancelled because of a turnaround time delay caused by airspace restrictions and precautionary tests. The airline explained that the cancellation wasn't because of a technical issue, as initially suspected.
The plane, which was due for take-off at 1:10 p.m., was grounded mere hours before departure after routine pre-flight checks identified issues. The sudden action caused alarm and irritation at Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and left many international passengers stranded—most having been left traumatised by Tuesday's fatal crash.
This is the second cancellation on the Ahmedabad–London sector within a week. On June 14, an earlier flight too had been cancelled following the ghastly accident that killed 241 passengers and others on the ground, taking the total number of deaths to 270. The airline retired the AI-171 flight number and added AI-159 as part of the symbolic reboot.
Also, a San Francisco–Mumbai flight that was making a stop at Kolkata was grounded at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport on Tuesday morning after a technical problem was detected in one of its engines.
In the midst of these disruptions, DGCA is reported to have called for an emergency virtual meet with Air India and Air India Express officials to take stock of the situation and lay the way forward.
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