Air India Flight From San Francisco To Mumbai Hits Technical Snag During Kolkata Stop

An Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai faced a left engine snag during its Kolkata stop, forcing all passengers to deboard as a safety measure. Incident adds to recent Air India woes.

Air India Flight AI180 Grounded in Kolkata After Engine Glitch – Passengers Deboarded for Safety

Source : X/PTI_News

A routine international flight turned tense in the early hours of Tuesday when an Air India aircraft traveling from San Francisco to Mumbai encountered a technical issue during a scheduled stop in Kolkata, prompting an emergency deboarding of all passengers.

Flight AI180, which departed on time from San Francisco International Airport, landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata at approximately 12:45 a.m. But shortly after touchdown, the crew identified a malfunction in the aircraft’s left engine, delaying its onward journey to Mumbai.

For more than four hours, passengers remained on board as ground engineers assessed the problem. Finally, at 5:20 a.m., the captain made an announcement, requesting everyone to disembark. The decision, he explained, was made purely out of caution and in the interest of passenger safety, according to a PTI report.

VIDEO | Kolkata: An Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata suffered a technical snag in one of its engines, requiring passengers to be deplaned during a scheduled halt at the city airport early on Tuesday.

Flight AI180 arrived on time at the city airport at… pic.twitter.com/0MSUiiwPdZ

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 17, 2025

A video from the airport showed ground crew clustered around the aircraft, inspecting the troubled engine as the jet remained parked on the tarmac under floodlights.

The incident adds to a growing list of technical disruptions involving Air India in recent days.

The news agency PTI shared a video of the plane and wrote, "Visuals show the left engine of the Air India aircraft stationed on the tarmac at Kolkata airport, with ground staff inspecting the area as the plane remains idle following the reported technical snag."

Visuals show the left engine of the Air India aircraft stationed on the tarmac at Kolkata airport, with ground staff inspecting the area as the plane remains idle following the reported technical snag. pic.twitter.com/caZTiLyGmE

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 17, 2025

Just five days ago, another Air India flight—AI-171—faced a tragic fate. The plane, headed to London’s Gatwick Airport from Ahmedabad, crashed into a hostel building at BJ Medical College seconds after take-off. The crash claimed the lives of nearly everyone on board—242 people, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Only one person, British national Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, survived the horrific accident.

Adding to the string of setbacks, an Air India flight bound for Delhi was forced to return to Hong Kong yesterday after experiencing yet another technical snag mid-air.