An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registered VT-ANO, faced a technical issue at Hong Kong International Airport on October 16, 2025. The glitch delayed flight AI315 to Delhi by nearly three hours before engineers cleared the aircraft for departure.
Minor glitch causes flight delay
Air India described the issue as a minor systems glitch that required a component reset. After thorough checks, engineers cleared the aircraft for flight around 11:30 a.m. local time. The plane later arrived safely in Delhi, with the airline stating that passenger safety remained its top priority.
Aircraft involved in earlier incidents
The same Dreamliner, VT-ANO, was linked to two previous incidents in October. On October 4, the Ram Air Turbine deployed automatically during descent into Birmingham on flight AI117 from Amritsar. Then, on October 9, flight AI154 from Vienna to Delhi diverted to Dubai after its autopilot malfunctioned, triggering multiple alerts.
DGCA orders reinspection
Following these repeated issues, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered Air India to reinspect the Ram Air Turbine systems across all Boeing 787-8 aircraft that recently underwent power module replacements. The move aims to prevent further technical anomalies in flight operations.
Pilot union demands deeper audit
The Federation of Indian Pilots has urged regulators to conduct a detailed audit of Air India’s 787 maintenance operations. The union also called for a temporary grounding of the 787 fleet until the cause of these recurring problems is identified and resolved.
Concerns over maintenance standards
While Air India has described each case as isolated and precautionary, the recurrence of issues involving VT-ANO has raised questions about maintenance standards and system reliability on the 787 fleet. Fortunately, no injuries or passenger emergencies occurred in any of the incidents.
