Air India Dreamliner returns to Hong Kong after technical issue

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

Last week, an Air India flight to London, using the same type of Boeing aircraft, crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad moments after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

Air India said in a statement on Monday that flight AI315 returned to Hong Kong because of what it described as "a technical issue" without giving details.

It said the flight landed safely and was undergoing checks "as a matter of abundant precaution."

According to recordings posted on air traffic control monitoring website LiveATC.net, and reviewed by Reuters, 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."

"We don't want to continue further," the pilot said, before returning.

Air India did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the recording.

AI315 made a return to Hong Kong International Airport after requesting local standby at around 1pm and "landed safely at around 1:15pm," the spokesperson of Airport Authority Hong Kong said.

The airport operations were not affected, the spokesperson added.

Flight AI315 took off from Hong Kong at around 12:20 pm, reached an altitude of 22,000 feet, and then started descending, according to flight tracking website AirNav Radar. The plane was seven years old.

Boeing and Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Hong Kong-New Delhi flight.

Last week's crash adds to the challenges for Air India, which has for years been trying to revamp its fleet, and for Boeing, which is trying to rebuild public trust following a series of safety and production crises.