An Air India flight from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata made a precautionary landing in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, on Monday, after the flight crew detected a suspected technical glitch midair.

All 228 passengers and 17 crew members are safe, and a recovery aircraft from India is expected to bring them back later on Tuesday night.

The relief flight will return with the passengers on Wednesday morning, the airline said.

“Air India will be operating a relief flight to ferry the passengers of flight AI174 (San Francisco–Delhi of 02 November), which was diverted to Ulaanbaatar on Monday. The ferry flight AI183 is scheduled to depart Delhi this afternoon and return with the affected passengers on Wednesday morning. Air India, along with local authorities and the Indian Embassy in Mongolia, has been looking after the passengers and crew, including providing them hotel accommodation. Guests have been kept informed about the arrangements being made to fly them to Delhi. At Air India, the safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew remain top priority,” the airline said in a statement.

The relief flight will be operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Around 7.59 pm on Monday, the Air India’s Boeing 777-300 aircraft, operating flight AI 174 from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata, was diverted to Ulaanbaatar International Airport in Mongolia after the suspected technical glitch. The aircraft had been airborne for nearly 11 hours and was about seven hours short of its scheduled stop in Kolkata.

“AI 174 of 02 November, operating from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata, made a precautionary landing at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after the flight crew suspected a technical issue en route,” the airline said in a statement. It added that the aircraft “made a safe landing” and was undergoing technical checks.

Following the diversion, passengers were served meals on board and later disembarked after immigration clearance.

“With the help of our partners and local authorities, Air India has extended immediate assistance to the passengers. They were served meals on board and disembarked. Hotel arrangements have been made for their stay after clearing immigration procedures at the airport,” an Air India spokesperson said on X (formerly Twitter).

The airline said it “sincerely regrets the inconvenience to passengers arising from this unforeseen diversion, which was undertaken in the interest of safety,” adding that “every effort is being made to minimise the inconvenience.”

In a statement, the Indian Embassy in Ulaanbaatar confirmed that it promptly deployed officials to assist passengers upon learning about the diversion.

“On receipt of information from Air India, one hour prior to the landing, a team of Embassy officials were immediately deputed at the airport to facilitate immigration and hotel stay of the 228 passengers plus crew members,” the embassy said on X.

It added that all arrangements, including visa facilitation, transportation, and accommodation, were made in coordination with Mongolian authorities.

The diversion comes weeks after an earlier Air India flight was cancelled due to a technical issue on October 17, followed by the airline operating an additional Milan–Delhi flight on October 19.