Boeing 787 Dreamliner Flight Hit By Snag, Air India’s New Delhi-Bound Flight Returns To Melbourne, Australia

Flight 311, a New Delhi-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight operated by India’s national carrier, Air India, returned to Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport where it had originated from, shortly after takeoff on Sunday night due to a technical error, in the latest instance of technical problems that have dogged Boeing's pioneering airplane since its launch two years ago.

The glitch was fixed at the Melbourne Airport and the flight finally left for Delhi on its 12-plus-hour non-stop flight on Monday morning, Madhu Mathen, an Air India official in Melbourne said, according to Press Trust of India. There were no details available about the exact cause of the problem.

“The passengers were accommodated in hotels and later brought back to board the flight which was this morning,” Mathen said.

The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) has been beset with technical problems concerning the Dreamliner 787 aircraft since it first flew commercially in October 2011. None of the recent problems are linked to the jetliner’s lithium-ion batteries that overheated and prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, to temporarily cancel 787 services worldwide in January for four months.

Boeing redesigned the battery system, which won FAA approval, before worldwide Dreamliner operators resumed flights in the second quarter.