Air India flights to and from London resume as scheduled following Heathrow power outage; earlier Chicago-Delhi flight diverted due to clogged lavatories caused by improper waste disposal.
New Delhi, March 22: Air India has confirmed the resumption of its flight operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) after a brief disruption caused by a power outage at the airport on Friday.
In an update shared on social media platform X, the airline announced that flight AI111 departed on time, and all other services to and from London are operating as scheduled.
“Our operations to and from London Heathrow (LHR) have recommenced after the disruption at the airport yesterday due to a power outage. Today’s flight AI111 was on schedule and other flights are expected to operate as per schedule,” the airline posted.
The airline also provided an update on flight AI161, which had been diverted to Frankfurt during the disruption. The flight is scheduled to depart Frankfurt at 14:05 local time on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the airline also addressed a separate incident involving a flight from Chicago to Delhi (AI126) on March 10, which was forced to return to its origin airport due to a lavatory malfunction mid-air.
According to an internal investigation, the cause was found to be inappropriate disposal of items such as polythene bags, rags, and clothing that had been flushed and subsequently clogged the plumbing systems. The result was that eight out of 12 lavatories became unusable, affecting passengers’ comfort and leaving the crew with limited options.
“At around 1 hour 45 minutes into the flight, crew reported that lavatories in both Business and Economy Class had become unserviceable,” said a statement from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Despite flying over the Atlantic with potential diversion options in Europe, the flight was turned back to Chicago due to night operation restrictions at European airports. Authorities emphasized that the decision to return was made in the best interest of passenger safety and comfort.
Air India has since urged passengers to be cautious about disposing of inappropriate items in aircraft lavatories to avoid such disruptive incidents in the future.
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Air India, London Heathrow, flight disruption, lavatory malfunction, Chicago to Delhi, aviation safety, Heathrow outage, Frankfurt diversion, passenger comfort, in-flight emergencies
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