With a flight time of 14 to 15 hours, the non-stop flight from Delhi to Vancouver is already one of the longest in the world. It gets particularly annoying when you end up back where you started after almost eight hours.

Air India pilot suddenly turns around over China

This happened to 185 travelers on Thursday (March 19) on Air India flight AI185. At 11:34 a.m. local time, the Boeing 777-200 with the registration VT-AEI took off from Delhi. The 16-year-old plane took off heading east. Air India flies the route via Bangladesh, China, Japan and the Pacific Ocean.

After almost four hours of flight, when the plane was over the Chinese province of Yunnan, it suddenly turned around and flew back towards India. After 7 hours and 54 minutes she landed back in Delhi, Indian media report.

Air India was not allowed to use the Boeing in Canada

It happens from time to time that airplanes turn back after several hours in the air. This is usually due to minor technical errors that can be better resolved at the home airport. However, the reason for the U-turn of Air India flight AI185 was rather unusual.

Air India only discovered shortly before the turnaround that the Boeing 777-200 LR was not approved for operations in Canada. The airline is currently only allowed to use Boeing 777-300 ERs on routes to Canada.

In a statement, Air India justified the return for “operational reasons” and apologized to travelers for the inconvenience.

By benjamin.recklies@aerotelegraph.com (Benjamin Recklies)