AIR INDIA FLIGHT FROM AHMEDABAD TO LONDON IS CANCELLED ‘DUE TO TECHNICAL GLITCH’ DAYS AFTER DREAMLINER CRASHED IN DEADLY FIREBALL

An Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London was said to have been cancelled due to a technical glitch just days after Flight AI171 crashed shortly after take-off, leaving just one survivor from 242 people on board.Air India Flight AI159 was suspended on Tuesday due to technical issues after arriving from New Delhi, CNN News18 reported this morning.
Air India has since claimed that the flight was cancelled due to an unavailability of aircraft.
The jet, a B788 Boeing, had been due to take off from Ahmedabad in Gujarat at 1:10pm local time, arriving at London Gatwick airport at 6:25pm.
Local media reported that a glitch was identified during routine checks. Passengers were left stranded at the airport as a result.
Flight AI159 is the renumbered version of the same Ahmedabad to Gatwick flight that crashed in a residential area on Thursday.
Flights have been leaving Ahmedabad airport since the tragedy. Authorities in India have ordered inspections of Air India's Dreamliners.
There were 53 British nationals on board Flight AI171 when it crashed into a residential area near the airport, as well as 159 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese citizens and a Canadian.
British father Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was identified last week as the sole survivor of Thursday's crash.
Flight data shows that an Air India flight AI159 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick landed yesterday, after being delayed some three hours in India.
Among the passengers was at least one person who was supposed to have been on the doomed Flight AI171, but rescheduled at the last minute.
Jayesh Ramji, 34, told the Times of India he had delayed his return to London, where he works, to stay with his ailing mother.
'I pushed my travel to June 16 as my mother was unwell,' he said. 'Now I just hope to get home safe.'
The flight was also due to depart at 1:10pm, but left the airport at 4:30pm local time and safely landed at Gatwick at 9:32pm.
On Monday, an Air India Express flight from Delhi to Ranchi was diverted back to the capital shortly after takeoff due to a suspected technical issue.
An India flight AI315 from Delhi to Hong Kong on Monday also had to turn back because of what Air India described as 'a technical issue' without giving details.
It said the flight landed safely and was undergoing checks 'as a matter of abundant precaution'.
And a British Airways Boeing Dreamliner from London Heathrow to Chennai in India was forced to divert on Sunday after encountering a technical issue.
Caution continues to hang over air travel in the wake of last Thursday's tragedy, with investigators yet to identify a cause.
Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered from Flight AI171. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would 'give an in-depth insight' into the circumstances of the crash.
Aviation experts believe the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may suddenly lost power 'at the most critical phase of flight' after takeoff.
The possible causes are believed to include a rapid change in wind or a bird strike leading to a double-engine stall.
Commercial airline pilot Steve Schreiber, who analyses plane crashes and close calls, said a new HD-quality video is a 'gamechanger' in diagnosing the cause and suggested the footage supported the dual engine failure theory.
He pointed out that in the footage, a small device is seen extended underneath the plane's fuselage, known as the Ram Access Turbine (RAT), whose function is to support the aircraft's electrical power and hydraulic pressure in an emergency.
Schreiber said that on a 787 there are three things that will deploy the RAT automatically: a massive electrical failure; a massive hydraulic failure; or a dual engine failure.
The Boeing jet took off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat at 1:38pm local time (08:08 BST).
The flight reached an altitude of just 625 feet, or 190 metres, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.
There it glided, seemingly suspended midair, but seconds later began descending rapidly as the engines appeared to give out.
The underside of the jet smashed into a building housing trainee doctors working at the nearby BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital, killing dozens more civilians.
The death toll now stands at 279 as rescuers continue picking through rubble.