DGCA asks Air India to take corrective actions after wrong plane deployment to Vancouver

Aviation watchdog DGCA has asked Air India to take corrective measures after the airline deployed a wrong aircraft for operating a flight to Vancouver last week, a senior official said on Thursday (March 26, 2026).

Action has also been taken against an airline official for the incident, the senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI.

A Vancouver-bound Air India Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft, after being airborne for over seven hours, returned to Delhi on March 19 after it was found that the plane was not approved for operating the flight. The approval is only for Boeing 777-300 ER to operate that flight.

Following the incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had sought a report from the airline.

Air India has been asked to take corrective measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen again, and action has also been taken against an airline official, the DGCA official said.

Specific details could not be ascertained.

There was no immediate comment from Air India.

On March 20, sources had said that an apparent lapse in updating the list of requirements for the operation of flights to Canada resulted in the situation of the deployment of the wrong aircraft.

“Air India flight AI185, operating from Delhi to Vancouver on 19 March, returned to Delhi due to an operational issue and in line with established standard operating procedures. The aircraft landed safely, and all passengers and crew had disembarked,” the airline said in a statement on March 20.