Air India resumes normal operations at London airport after power outage

NEW DELHI: Air India on Saturday announced that its flights to and from London Heathrow (LHR) are back on schedule after a brief disruption caused by a power outage at the airport Friday.

#ImportantUpdate

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, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule. AI161 of…

— Air India (@airindia) March 22, 2025

Sharing the post on X, the airline confirmed that today’s flight AI111 departed on time, and all other flights to and from London are expected to operate 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, to and from London, are expected to operate as per schedule,” the post stated.

“AI161 of 21 March, which was diverted to Frankfurt, is expected to leave Frankfurt at 14:05 pm local time,” it added.

In another incident on March 5, an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi was forced to return to its departure airport after multiple lavatories on board became unserviceable, as reported by the crew, due to clogged toilets caused by improper waste disposal.

The investigation by the concerned authorities revealed that the lavatories became unserviceable as polythene bags, rags, and clothes were flushed down and got stuck in the plumbing.

“We are aware of some social media posts about the unserviceable lavatories on AI126 operating Chicago to Delhi on 05 March 2025 that caused the flight’s diversion back to its origin. We would like to confirm that as part of our investigation into the incident, our teams found polythene bags, rags, and clothes that had been flushed down and stuck in the plumbing. This led the lavatories to become unserviceable,” Chicago O’Hare International Airport said.

The airport authorities said that the flight departed on time at 1648 Hrs (UTC), and about an hour and forty-five minutes into the flight, the crew reported some of the lavatories in Business and Economy Class to be unserviceable.

Subsequently, eight of the 12 lavatories in the aircraft became unserviceable, causing discomfort to all on board. By this time, the aircraft was overflying the Atlantic, leaving points in Europe as potential cities to divert to.

However, it was decided to divert back to Chicago due to restrictions on night operations at most of the European airports. According to the authorities, the decision to divert was taken entirely in the interest of passenger comfort and safety. (ANI)