Air India 777 to Vancouver turns back after 7 hours over clearance lapse, lands safely in Delhi

An Air India flight bound for Vancouver had to turn back to Delhi. The Boeing 777-200LR was over seven hours into its journey. This happened because the aircraft was not cleared for the route. An administrative oversight led to the wrong plane bei...

By ET Bureau | Mar 21, 2026, 01.15 AM IST

New Delhi: An Air India Boeing 777-200LR, enroute from Delhi to Vancouver, was forced to return to the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday evening-more than seven hours into its journey -after it emerged that the aircraft hadn't been cleared to operate the route.

People familiar with the matter said the incident stemmed from an administrative oversight-an apparent failure to update the operational requirements list for flights serving Canadian destinations -which led to an incorrect aircraft being assigned to the service.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft had already entered Chinese airspace before the decision was made to reverse course. Air India, in a statement on Friday, stopped short of elaborating on the precise nature of the operational issue but confirmed that the aircraft touched down safely at the Delhi airport.

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