<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Air India&rsquo;s scheduled flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon due to operational complications, airport and airline officials confirmed.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Flight AI-159, which was set to depart at 2:55 pm from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, was marked as cancelled on Air India&rsquo;s official website earlier in the day.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">An airport official, confirming the cancellation, told Benefit News, &ldquo;We have been informed that the flight has been cancelled due to operational issues. The original flight from Ahmedabad to London, having code AI-171, resumed operation from Monday with a new flight code AI-159.&rdquo;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">No further clarification was provided on the nature of the issues cited.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Addressing speculation, Air India released a detailed statement to Benefit News denying any technical malfunction behind the cancellation.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The airline attributed the disruption to aircraft unavailability caused by airspace restrictions and heightened precautionary inspections, which have led to longer turnaround times.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">&ldquo;Flight AI159 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick has been cancelled today due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft, and not due to any technical snag as claimed,&rdquo; the airline stated.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Air India also announced that passengers have been provided with alternative travel options. &ldquo;We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and have made alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers,&rdquo; the statement added.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">As a consequence of the Ahmedabad&ndash;London cancellation, the return leg &mdash; flight AI-170 from London Gatwick to Amritsar, scheduled for June 17 &mdash; has also been cancelled.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Flight AI-159 was introduced as a replacement for the previous service AI-171, which tragically crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The tragedy claimed the lives of nearly all 242 people on board, with only one survivor reported. Including individuals on the ground, the total death toll has reached approximately 270, as per media reports.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi confirmed that as of 2 pm, 162 victims' DNA samples have been successfully matched, and 101 bodies have been returned to their respective families.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Among the deceased were five individuals who were not passengers on the aircraft.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile, Air India also cancelled its Delhi&ndash;Paris service after a technical fault was discovered during routine checks. The aircraft, a Boeing Dreamliner, was undergoing mandatory pre-flight inspections when the issue was identified.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">"The aircraft was undergoing mandatory pre-flight checks when an issue was detected. The glitch is presently being addressed," an airline spokesperson said.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This marks the second international flight disruption for the airline in the span of 24 hours, as technical, regulatory, and safety-related challenges continue to affect operations.</span></div>

Air India Cancels Ahmedabad-London Flight AI-159

Airline says flight cancelled due to airspace curbs, precautionary checks—not technical fault.

Air India Cancels Ahmedabad-London Flight AI-159

Airline says flight cancelled due to airspace curbs, precautionary checks—not technical fault.

June 17, 2025 | 21:45 IST

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