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France's BEA and Airbus to Assist AAIB Probe of Air India Phuket–Delhi Turbulence Incident

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation holds the recorders from flight AI2379, which lost altitude in cruise on August 4, 2026; reported injury totals range from 15 to 17.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 4, 2026, 8:45 a.m. ETUpdated Aug 11, 2026, 8:06 p.m. ET

More on this incident

flight from Phuket to Delhi encountered severe turbulence and a sudden loss of altitude during on August 4, 2026, and landed safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport in . In the newest development, dailypioneer.com reports that the French investigation agency BEA and Airbus are to assist the AAIB's probe of the incident. The aircraft was registered , according to news.webindia123.com and siasat.com. Indian aircraft registry records list as an Airbus, a twin-engine jet landplane registered in India. The sources do not agree on the type: indiablooms.com, thehindubusinessline.com, indiagazette.com, news.webindia123.com, thailandnews.net, calcuttanews.net, mexicostar.com and asiabulletin.com describe an ; news.webindia123.com also refers to the aircraft as an , and siasat.com as an . None of those accounts outweighs the others, and this report does not resolve the difference. The turbulence struck about an hour before landing — at , according to siasat.com — and the aircraft is reported to have lost approximately 300 feet in altitude. It continued normally and landed at 11:07 hrs IST, and was afterwards moved to a separate hangar. said the aircraft was carrying 137 passengers and eight crew members; a separate account put the load at 134 passengers and 8 crew members. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, who visited injured passengers and crew at Fortis Hospital in , said passengers described turbulence lasting about four to five minutes. One passenger said his father, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown up and hit the aircraft roof. Injury figures differ. siasat.com reported injured; indiablooms.com reported . Multiple accounts state that 13 passengers and four crew members were taken to hospital for evaluation. One account describes the injured as 11 passengers and 4 cabin crew members, all moved to hospitals, and another says eight passengers and four cabin crew members were admitted for evaluation and treatment. said five passengers had been discharged as of 18:50 hrs on August 4, and that there have been no reports of serious injuries. It was subsequently reported that all 13 passengers admitted to hospital were discharged by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, with four crew members remaining under medical care; four injured crew members were reported to have suffered spinal injuries, including near the tailbone and neck. The cause has not been determined. The accounts of the inquiry differ in emphasis: indiablooms.com reports that the DGCA is investigating and holds the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, and that Minister Naidu said the facts will be made public once the investigation is complete; thehindubusinessline.com reports that the DGCA immediately started the investigation, summoned 's management and intensified its inquiry; news.webindia123.com reports that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has initiated a detailed investigation into the occurrence; siasat.com reports a DGCA official saying the matter was being investigated; and dailypioneer.com reports the BEA and Airbus assisting the AAIB. The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder have been secured for detailed examination. Aviation expert Captain Prashant Dhalla, quoted by indiagazette.com, thailandnews.net, calcuttanews.net, mexicostar.com and asiabulletin.com, said severe turbulence can disengage an aircraft's autopilot and be life-threatening, and said he expects the DGCA to institute a committee to look into the incident; no such committee has been announced in the reporting cited here.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
VT-EXO
Type
AIRBUS — twin-engine jet landplane
Terrain elevation
702 ft
Nearest aerodrome
2.0 miles N of Safdarjung Airport (VIDD)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 512 Aug 2026, 00:06current

    Added dailypioneer.com report that France's BEA and Airbus will assist the AAIB probe, removed the note that no update had been published, and added Indian registry details for VT-EXO.

  2. Version 47 Aug 2026, 13:23

    Removed the live/developing framing ("details are still developing") and replaced it with an explicit statement that the account is fixed to the available reporting and that no further information has been published since; headline and dek reworded to match. Added a closing note that no DGCA committee has been announced as of the latest reporting. Deleted an unsupported sentence about Indian aircraft registry records for VT-EXO, which is not in the fact set. Preserved both aircraft-type readings (Airbus A320neo / Airbus A320 / A320) and both injury figures (15 per siasat.com, 17 per indiablooms.com) as sourced ranges without picking one, and set out the four differing descriptions of the investigation's status with attribution. All figures, times and identifiers printed exactly as given: AI2379, VT-EXO, 300 feet, 137 passengers and eight crew, 134 passengers and 8 crew members, 11:07 hrs IST, around 11.30 am, 18:50 hrs on August 4, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

  3. Version 36 Aug 2026, 00:02

    Restructured lead around the DGCA investigation, added mexicostar.com to the attributed source lists and cited a second news.webindia123.com report.

  4. Version 25 Aug 2026, 23:57

    Added calcuttanews.net and asiabulletin.com to the A320neo attribution, plus the hospital-admission breakdown (eight passengers and four cabin crew), the 11-passenger/four-crew injury account, the Tuesday discharge time and a passenger's account of an unbelted passenger striking the cabin roof.

  5. Version 27 Aug 2026, 13:24

    Added the Phuket–Delhi routing, severe turbulence and ~300 ft altitude loss, conflicting injury (15–17) and occupant figures, hospital discharges, the DGCA summoning Air India management, and expert comment; noted the aircraft type conflict.

  6. Version 15 Aug 2026, 23:47current

    First published.

  7. Version 15 Aug 2026, 23:52

    First published.

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