Two Days, Two Scares! Air India Calicut To Doha Flight Returns Mid-Air Due To Technical Snag

It's been a tense couple of days for Air India and its low-cost arm, Air India Express - though thankfully, both incidents ended without harm.

On Wednesday morning, passengers aboard Air India Express flight IX 375 were settling in for a routine journey from Calicut to Doha. The flight had taken off on time, the cabin crew was going about their duties, and everything seemed smooth - until it wasn't.

Roughly two hours after take-off, the aircraft turned around and headed back to Calicut International Airport. The reason? A malfunction in the cabin's air conditioning system. While that might not sound serious, aviation rules treat any technical issue mid-air with extreme caution - and rightly so.

Fortunately, the return was calm and controlled. The plane, carrying 188 passengers and crew, landed safely at 11:12 AM. Officials were quick to clarify: this wasn't an emergency landing, just a safety-first decision.

While engineers got to work diagnosing the problem, passengers were deboarded and served refreshments. An alternate aircraft was swiftly arranged, and the rescheduled flight departed by 1:30 PM. "The issue is being addressed and passengers are being looked after with utmost care," said an airline spokesperson.

But that wasn't the only scare the airline faced this week.

Just a day earlier in Delhi, an Air India flight (AI 315) arriving from Hong Kong had a close call of its own. After safely landing and reaching the gate at Indira Gandhi International Airport, a fire broke out in the aircraft's auxiliary power unit (APU) - a small engine at the tail that powers essential systems when the main engines are off.

Thankfully, the danger passed almost as quickly as it appeared. The APU shut down automatically, passengers had already started disembarking, and no one was hurt. Still, the aircraft was grounded immediately, and a full technical investigation was launched.

Both episodes served as reminders of just how complex modern air travel is - and how critical rigorous safety protocols are.