3 India-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliners returned to their origin within 36 hours

After the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, three India-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliners operated by Air India, British Airways and Lufthansa were forced to return to their origin airports.

Air India’s Hong Kong-Delhi flight, British Airways' London-Chennai flight and Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Hyderabad flight all turned back shortly after takeoff.

The back-to-back diversions of the Boeing 787-8 aircraft have raised eyebrows following the tragedy in Ahmedabad, which killed 241 of the 242 people on board.

Air India’s Hong Kong-Delhi flight

An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane bound for New Delhi returned to its origin of Hong Kong around 15 minutes after takeoff on Monday as a precautionary measure following a suspected technical issue.

In a statement, Air India said on Monday that flight AI 315 returned to Hong Kong because of what it described as "a technical issue" without giving details.

The flight landed safely and was undergoing checks “as a matter of abundant precaution,” it added.

According to Reuters, citing recordings posted on air traffic control monitoring website LiveATC.net, one of the pilots in the plane told air traffic controllers around 15 minutes after takeoff that “for technical reasons, sir, we would like to stay closer to Hong Kong. Maybe we will come back and land back into Hong Kong once we sort out the problem.”

Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Hyderabad flight

A Lufthansa flight to Hyderabad was forced to make a U-turn and return to land at Frankfurt Airport due to a bomb threat, the airline said on Monday.

Flight LH752 departed from Germany around 14.14 local time on Sunday and was scheduled to land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the early hours of Monday, but flight tracker data showed a diversion a few hours into the flight.

Lufthansa said the passengers had been provided overnight accommodation in Frankfurt and were scheduled to resume their journey to Hyderabad on Monday morning.

“Out of an abundance of caution, Lufthansa flight LH752 from Frankfurt to Hyderabad returned to its point of departure after authorities were made aware of a bomb threat posted on social media,” Lufthansa said in a statement.

“The safety of our passengers and crew is Lufthansa’s highest priority. Affected passengers were provided with accommodation in Frankfurt and will be continuing their journey to Hyderabad today,” the statement said.

British Airways London-Chennai flight

A Chennai-bound British Airways Boeing Dreamliner returned to London due to a technical snag on Sunday.

The flight landed safely with crew and passengers disembarking as they normally would, British Airways said in a statement.

The airline, however, did not share other details such as the departure time of the flight, the number of passengers and crew on board and for how long the aircraft remained airborne before it returned to London.

"The aircraft returned to Heathrow as a standard precaution after reports of a technical issue," British Airways said.