Engine issue resolved, stranded Air India plane returns to India from Russia

The return of Boeing 777-200LR has brought a sigh of relief for the Tata Group airline. Industry watchers and aviation analysts had expressed concerns that the aircraft could remain stuck in Russia for an extended period if the affected engine — manufactured by American major General Electric — needed extensive repairs or replacement, given the US and European sanctions on the export of aircraft machinery to Russia.

However, it appears that Air India’s engineering team that had reached Magadan aboard a relief flight on Thursday managed to repair the engine fully, and a replacement of the engine was not required.

“We can confirm that a defect in the oil system of one of the aircraft’s engines has been rectified by our engineering team that flew on a ferry flight to GDX (Magadan)…The aircraft was checked on all safety parameters and certified serviceable before take-off from GDX today,” an Air India spokesperson said.

The flight from Delhi to San Francisco developed a technical issue with one of its engines on Tuesday and was diverted to the town in Russia’s far-east region. The 216 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the aircraft were stranded in the small town till Thursday morning, when the rescue flight sent by Air India took off for their intended destination, San Francisco, from Magadan.

As Magadan is a small town with limited infrastructure, all passengers were housed in a makeshift accommodation.

“As we do not have any Air India staff based in the remote town of Magadan or in Russia, all ground support was being provided to the passengers is the best possible in this unusual circumstance through our round-the-clock liaison with the Consulate General of India in Vladivostok, Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), local ground handlers, and the Russian authorities,” the airline said in a statement on Wednesday morning.

While the rescue aircraft took the stranded passengers to San Francisco, ending their two-day ordeal, there were fears that the snag-hit plane could remain stuck in Magadan for a long time. The affected engine—GE90-115B—is the largest in-service aircraft engine in the world and its replacement could have turned out to be a long-drawn process amid the US and European sanctions on Russia. Even if Air India had found a replacement engine by itself, finding a cargo operator with a suitable plane to transport it could have been a headache in view of the sanctions.

In December 2018, a Norwegian Boeing 737 aircraft had to be diverted to an airport in Iran following an engine snag. As Iran was under US sanctions and the plane required an engine replacement, it was stuck there for over two months, because special export licences were needed to send a replacement engine for the plane. Given the diplomatic tensions between Washington and Tehran, it took the Norwegians a long time to get the necessary paperwork done.