Air India’s flight AI-159 from Ahmedabad to London was cancelled on Monday due to a technical issue, airline officials confirmed.
The cancellation comes just days after a tragic crash on the same route, which claimed 274 lives. The June 12 incident involved flight AI-171, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, killing 241 passengers and crew onboard and 33 people on the ground.
Following the crash, Air India renumbered the affected flight to AI-159 for the Ahmedabad-London route, and the return flight has been changed to AI-160.
According to a media report, “The flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick [London] will be re-numbered to AI 159. The return flight too will be changed to AI 160. The change will start to reflect soon,” an airline official said.
A former airline executive explained that renumbering flights after a fatal accident is standard practice to help passengers feel more comfortable and to separate future operations from the memory of the crash.
The AI-171 crash, one of India’s worst aviation disasters, happened when the aircraft lost power moments after takeoff and crashed into a medical complex near Meghaninagar. The plane caught fire on impact. Only one person survived—a British-Indian passenger seated in 11A. Among the 33 casualties on the ground were at least five MBBS students living in the hostel the plane hit.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is currently investigating the incident.