An Air India Boeing 787-8 was forced to divert back to its origin airport after one of its tires burst during takeoff.
The incident happened on July 28, 2023, when an Air India Boeing 787-8, registered as VT-NAA, was operating flight AI143 from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), India, to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), France.
India’s ANI News reported that shortly after take-off, ATC informed the Boeing 787’s crew members that tire debris was spotted on the same runway it departed from. Subsequently, the Air India Boeing 787-8 circled around for more than 35 minutes above the ground before returning to its origin airport.
An Air India spokesperson told ANI News that while the aircraft underwent checks at DEL, alternative travel arrangements were being planned. Flight AI143 eventually departed toward CDG at 9:09 PM local time (UTC +5:30) with another Air India Boeing 787-8, registered as VT-AND, operating the flight to the Parisian airport. Several hours prior, VT-AND completed flight AI307 from Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) to DEL. VT-AND landed at CDG at 2:05 AM local time (UTC +2).
Meanwhile, VT-NAA remains on the ground at DEL at the time of writing.
The aircraft was delivered new to Air India in August 2017, accumulating a total of 21,380 and 3,062 flight hours (FH) and flight cycles (FC), respectively, as of April 30, 2023, according to ch-aviation.com data. In May 2023, the aircraft had 445 FH and 49 FC, while ch-aviation.com estimated that in June 2023, the 787 had 421.5 FH and 47 FC.
Like the rest of Air India’s 787s, VT-NAA is powered by a General Electric (GE) GEnx engine.
AeroTime approached Air India for comment.
