Air India cancelled the Vienna–Washington DC sector of Flight AI103 after a routine inspection during a planned refuelling stop in Vienna on 3 July flagged an extended maintenance task that required immediate attention, the airline said. All passengers were asked to disembark while engineers worked on the aircraft. Because the work could not be completed in time, the carrier scrapped the onward leg to Washington as well as the scheduled return service, AI104, on the same route. Air India said affected travellers have been rebooked on alternative flights or offered full refunds and hotel accommodation where required. The company described the move as consistent with its voluntary enhanced pre-flight safety programme, adding that safety considerations outweighed schedule disruptions. Air India and its low-cost arm operate more than 1,100 flights a day, and the incident follows several recent operational interruptions the airline has attributed to heightened inspections and external constraints such as airspace closures and airport curfews.