An Air India Express flight en route from Kannur to Jeddah, carrying over 180 passengers, was compelled to return to its departure airport on Tuesday due to a technical issue. The aircraft took off at 7:40 am and approximately two hours into the journey, the flight crew identified a problem. As a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to turn back to Kannur. The flight landed safely, and authorities are conducting further inspections to ascertain the precise nature of the technical snag. In a separate incident, an Etihad Airways flight from Chennai to Abu Dhabi was cancelled before departure due to a technical issue, with passengers safely disembarked.