SAN FRANCISCO- Air India (AI) Boeing 777 was once again grounded at San Francisco (SFO) after one of its panels went missing.
According to Aviation A2Z source, Air India flight AI184 from San Francisco to Delhi (DEL) was canceled on April 27, 2024. The aircraft remained on the ground for around 2 days.
Air India 777 Grounded in San Francisco
Air India operates five weekly flights between SFO and DEL, except for Wednesday and Sunday. Tata-owned carrier deploys Boeing 777-300ER and sometimes 777-200LR to serve this sector.
On April 27, 2024, the panel went missing when Air India was scheduled to operate the AI184 flight. However, the Air India staff at SFO didn’t specify where it went missing, but following this, the airline had to cancel its flight.
After two days of grounding, Air India operated SFO-DEL flight on 29 April 2024.
The aircraft involved in the incident is a Boeing 777-300ER, registered as VT-ALP, named Madhya Pradesh. According to Planespotters.net, the aircraft is around 15 years old.
At the time of publication, VT-ALP is airborne, operating on a Chicago (ORD)-Delhi (DEL) route.
Not the First Time
Last year, on July 4, Air India Boeing 777 was grounded at San Francisco (SFO) for over a week as a ground utility vehicle hit it.
As the Indian carrier operates BOM-SFO-BOM flights, the airline doesn’t have a proper maintenance facility at SFO. Further, the source said that the airline doesn’t have a contract for maintenance with MROs at SFO.
Due to all this, the airline took spares and maintenance staff from their home country. Subsequently, this consumes more time and delays the maintenance work.
In January 2023, VE-AEG was grounded at SFO for ten days amid spare shortages and other major maintenance-related issues.
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