British Airways, Lufthansa and Air India see their India-bound 787 aircraft turn around for various reasons over past 24 hours

by Ajay Leave A Comment

We are still reeling from the Air India 787-8 crash that happened just a few days ago, and was the first hull loss for the Boeing 787 which came into service about 14 years ago. The Indian DGCA has notified new checks for the entire Air India 787 fleet. However, it seems by coincidence, over the past 24 hours, we have seen three different airlines having their 787s turn back to origin, for flights that were destined for Indian shores.

British Airways Boeing 787-8 turns back to London Heathrow

British Airways, which was operating BA35 to Chennai, a scheduled service with a Boeing 787-8, diverted back to London Heathrow on June 14, 2025. The flight was operated by 11-year-old aircraft, registered as G-ZBJG. The plane circled over an hour to dump fuel before landing safely. Social media referred to a mechanical issue called Flap Adjustment Failure, but the airline has not confirmed this.

The image shows a flight path map from Flightradar24, depicting the playback of flight BA35 from London (LHR) to Chennai (MAA). The flight path is marked with a colorful line indicating the route taken, which includes several loops and turns over a geographic area. The map is overlaid with details about the flight, such as the great circle distance of 8,242 km, average flight time of 9:39, and the aircraft type, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with registration G-ZBJG. An inset shows an image of the aircraft. The map also displays the time as 11:45 AM UTC and other flight parameters like altitude and speed, which are currently at zero.

Lufthansa Boeing 787-9 turns back to Frankfurt due to a bomb threat

Lufthansa was operating its scheduled service, LH752 between Frankfurt and Hyderabad on June 15, 2025 with the Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Hwever, the aircraft turned around and headed back into Frankfurt, after the aircraft reportedly received a bomb threat while still being outside of Indian airspace.

The news of a bomb on board was clearly a hoax, and we don’t have more details at the moment about where the threat originated, but passengers were given accomodation in Frankfurt for the night.

The image shows a flight tracking map from Flightradar24, displaying the route of flight LH752 from Frankfurt (FRA) to Hyderabad (HYD). The flight path is marked in blue and green lines over a satellite map. Below the map, flight details are provided, including the great circle distance of 7,125 km, average flight time of 8:02, and current time of 12:14 PM UTC. The aircraft is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with registration D-ABPE. An inset photo of the aircraft is also visible.

Air India Boeing 787-8 returns to Hong Kong

Air India 315 from Hong Kong to Delhi diverted back to Hong Kong after takeoff on Monday, June 16, 2025. The plane departed 3 hours and 26 minutes delayed, then returned to Hong Kong roughly an hour after takeoff. The flight was on a 7-year old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registered as VT-NAC. The return was because of a “technical issue.”

The image shows a flight tracking map from Flightradar24, displaying the playback of flight AI315 from Hong Kong to Delhi. The map features the flight path over a coastal region, with the path marked in different colors indicating various segments of the flight. Below the map, there is detailed flight information, including the great circle distance, average flight time, and current status. The aircraft is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with a photo of the plane shown on the right. The flight details include departure and arrival locations, time, altitude, speed, and other technical data.

Bottomline

A spate of Return To Origins with the Boeing 787 family aircraft have coincidentally occured over the past 24 hours, all due to different reasons. In all the cases, there was nothing to worry about eventually and the passengers have been or will be eventually put on their way.

What do you make of this instance of the 787 having an existential crisis?

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

Pay Now
PayPal Now

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.

.

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

More articles by Ajay »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *