United Airlines plane grounded at Mumbai airport

A Boeing 777 aircraft of American carrier United Airlines was grounded at Mumbai airport on Thursday night after engineers found that its right engine cover was badly damaged, official sources said on Friday.

The aircraft, operating flight UA-48 from Newark to Mumbai, arrived around 10 pm on Thursday and the engineers found the right-side engine cowl badly damaged, the sources said. Cowl is the cover of an aircraft engine.

DGCA officials, who inspected the aircraft thereafter, grounded the plane, terming the damage as "major", the sources said, adding it was being suspected that the damage may have been caused during take-off.

The damage to the aircraft was found after the passengers had disembarked and the plane was being readied for the return flight, they said.

In its statement the airline said, "United Airlines flight UA49 from Mumbai to New York/Newark on February 20, 2014, a Boeing 777 aircraft, was cancelled following a technical issue. A routine inspection of the aircraft on arrival at Mumbai revealed that the fan cowling on the aircraft’s number 2 (right) engine was damaged, though intact. Our customer service team at Mumbai provided assistance to customers and made arrangements for them to complete their journeys."