Air India flight to San Francisco turns back to Delhi after 8 hours aloft
A Delhi-to-San Francisco Air India flight turned back after more than eight hours aloft, stranding about 230 travelers before they could reach SFO.
About 230 passengers headed for San Francisco spent more than eight hours in the air before Air India flight AI173 turned back to Delhi on May 27, 2026, after a technical problem. The Boeing 777-300ER landed safely in the Indian capital instead of continuing on to SFO, leaving Bay Area-bound travelers to reset work trips, family plans, and onward connections.
Air India said the aircraft would undergo a technical inspection in line with its safety standards. The airline said ground teams were offering refreshments, hotel accommodation, or rescheduling, depending on what passengers chose. For travelers booked all the way to San Francisco, the practical problem was immediate: a long-haul crossing was cut short after most of the journey had already been flown, then replaced by new arrangements out of Delhi.
Several reports said the diversion began while the aircraft was in or over Chinese airspace, underscoring how far the jet had traveled before crews decided to return. Flight-tracking data showed the plane had been airborne for more than eight hours when it headed back, a reminder of how disruptive a turnback can be on ultra-long-haul routes where passengers are often connecting to domestic flights, meetings, or same-day arrivals in the Bay Area.
The flight’s disruption lands in the shadow of Air India’s broader post-crash reset. Less than a year earlier, on June 12, 2025, Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick was involved in a crash that killed 241 people onboard and 19 people on the ground, according to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and Air India background materials. After that disaster, Air India launched a Safety Pause and then began phasing international service back into operation.
That restoration still has consequences for San Francisco travelers. In July 2025, Air India said Delhi-San Francisco service remained reduced from 10 weekly flights to 7 weekly flights as part of the phased recovery plan. For Bay Area passengers, that meant fewer rebooking options even before a diversion like AI173 forced the airline to sort out hotels, meals, and alternate seats on a route that links India’s capital directly with one of the region’s most important long-haul gateways.
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