Flight Lieutenant Thom Sayer presents a military memento to Chief Airport Officer Rahul Bhatkoti on Wednesday conveying the UK’s appreciation for the support extended by the airport authorities to them.
The expert team of engineers, who had been staying here since July 6 at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in connection with the repair and maintenance of the grounded F-35B of the Royal Air Force, left for the U.K. on Wednesday night. An Airbus A400M Atlas, the four-engine military transport aircraft of the RAF that came from Diego Garcia and landed at the airport during the night, departed for the U.K. with 17 members and 11 crew onboard, along with the equipment they brought in to repair the aircraft.
Ahead of the departure, Flight Lieutenant Thom Sayer of the British team, met the airport team to convey their appreciation for the support extended by the airport authorities during the F-35B stay in Thiruvananthapuram. In return, the airport authorities thanked Number 207 Squadron RAF, Manham, for their visit and the honour of receiving a distinguished military memento. The repaired F-35B had left for its base station on Tuesday.
The aircraft that made an emergency landing after running low on fuel on the night of June 14 developed serious engineering issues, forcing the crew to seek the support of an expert team of engineers to fix the glitches. The stealth aircraft made an emergency diversion after it was unable to return to HMS Prince of Wales due to adverse weather conditions. It took over two weeks to repair the aircraft and conduct the mandatory safety checks before flying out from here on Tuesday morning.
Published – July 23, 2025 09:40 pm IST
