UK fighter jet grounded in Kerala moved out of hangar after repairs, to fly out on July 22

After over a month-long uncertainty and hypothesis, the UK workforce took the grounded F-35B of the Royal Air Power, UK, out of the hangar of the Thiruvananthapuram worldwide airport on Monday (July 21, 2025) after efficiently finishing over two-week-long upkeep on the fighter jet.

In accordance with airport sources, the plane shall be taken to its base station within the UK by the crew on Tuesday (July 22, 2025). A C17-Globmaster plane will land right here on Tuesday to take again the 14-member professional workforce of engineers who arrived from the UK to take care of the grounded plane on July 6.

The fifth-generation stealth plane, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, has been grounded right here since June 14 after it developed engineering points throughout an emergency touchdown right here on the evening of June 14.

Although the British authorities haven’t formally communicated the main points of the upkeep works that they had carried out, it’s reported that the auxiliary energy unit of the plane developed some main engineering snags, necessitating the companies of an professional workforce. Initially, the crew had tried to repair the glitches as quickly because the fight jet made an emergency touchdown after operating low on gasoline on the Thiruvananthapuram airport however in useless.

The plane was later towed to the hangar facility on the airport on July 6 after an professional workforce arrived right here.

Hefty parking payment

The British authorities must pay a hefty quantity as parking charges to the Thiruvananthapuram airport. The quantity is fastened contemplating the dimensions and weight of the plane, together with the variety of days it stayed right here and the facilities utilized by the crew throughout their keep on the airport.

It’s estimated that the parking payment alone would quantity to round ₹15,000-₹20,000 per day. The airport will accumulate parking charges for the plane for every day it has been stationed right here since June 14, whereas the payment for utilizing the hangar facility shall be charged by AI Engineering Providers Ltd., which owns the hangar and offers the upkeep, repairs, and overhaul facility.