Air India's big step, no flights will fly from Ahmedabad-London Gatwick from August 1, when will it start again?:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Air India has suspended the Ahmedabad-Gatwick flight from August 1 to September 30. Instead, the flight will fly to London Heathrow Airport. Air India issued a statement on Tuesday saying that it will operate three weekly flights from Ahmedabad to London Heathrow from August 1 to September 30, replacing London's Gatwick.

Why did Air India take this decision?

This decision has been taken by Air India after reviewing flights and conducting safety checks under 'Safety Pause'. After a tragic accident involving AI171 flight on June 12, Air India had temporarily halted some flights to conduct additional checks of its Boeing 787 aircraft and ensure safety.

The airline currently operates 5 weekly flights on Ahmedabad-London Gatwick route. Besides this, Air India has also announced partial resumption of flights that were curtailed following its decision to take a "safety pause" after the June 12 crash of a Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people.

The fatal plane crash happened on June 12

On June 12, a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner began falling soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport. The plane crashed into a medical college hostel, killing all but one of the 242 people on board, as well as 19 others on the ground. It was the deadliest aviation accident.

What did the AAIB report say?

The AAIB's preliminary report released on Friday said both the aircraft's engines were moved from "RUN" to "CUTOFF" one after the other, resulting in the shutdown of fuel supply. In the cockpit voice recording, one pilot is heard asking the other why he cutoff, while the other pilot denied doing so, the report said. The aircraft attained the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the fuel cutoff switches of Engine 1 and Engine 2 were switched from RUN to CUTOFF position one after the other with an interval of 01 second, the preliminary report said. Engine N1 and N2 started decelerating below their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was shut off.