An Air India plane's auxiliary power unit caught fire after landing at Delhi airport on Tuesday afternoon but all passengers and crew members were safe, the airline said.
"Flight AI 315, operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 22 July 2025, experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) fire shortly after it had landed and parked at the gate. The incident occurred while passengers had begun disembarking, and the APU was automatically shut down as per system design," an Air India spokesperson said in a statement.
The airline said there was some damage to the aircraft but passengers and crew members disembarked safely.
"The aircraft has been grounded for further investigations and the regulator has been duly notified," the spokesperson said.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said an investigation into the fire, which was doused by airport personnel, is underway.
The airline is under intense scrutiny since its Ahmedabad-London flight crashed shortly after takeoff on June 12.
A string of mishaps has plagued the airline since then.
On Monday, a Kolkata-bound Air India plane had to abort takeoff due to a technical snag at the Delhi airport.
The same day, another Air India flight, AI2744 operating from Kochi to Mumbai, veered off the runway while landing in heavy rain at Mumbai airport.
"The aircraft taxied safely to the gate, and all passengers and crew members have since disembarked. The aircraft has been grounded for checks," an airline spokesperson said about the Mumbai incident.
Operations of one of the runways at the Mumbai airport were temporarily suspended after the incident.
Junior civil aviation minister Murlidhar Mohol informed Parliament on Monday about show-cause notices issued to Air India.
“During the last six months, a total of nine show case notices have been issued to Air India in connection with five identified safety violations. Enforcement action has been completed in respect of one violation,” Mohol stated in a written reply to a set of questions raised by the CPM’s Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas.
The airline has been under the microscope since its flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick crashed seconds after take-off, killing 260 people. It was the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, and one of the deadliest in India in decades.
According to data from the flight recorder, both of the plane's fuel control switches moved from the run to the cut-off position in the space of a second, shortly after take-off.
The AAIB’s preliminary findings revealed that both fuel cutoff switches feeding fuel to the engines were disengaged moments after take-off, resulting in the crash.
