NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
New York, July 7, 2025 – A United Airlines flight from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) made an emergency return to Newark on Monday night, after the aircraft experienced a mechanical issue mid-air.
Flight UA82, operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (tail number N23983), took off from Newark at 9:30 p.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 9:30 p.m. local time the following day. Roughly 45 minutes into the flight, while cruising at 33,000 feet over the Gulf of Maine at a ground speed of 500 knots, the crew detected a technical fault and declared an emergency.
According to aviation data, the aircraft sent out an ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) message at 01:46 UTC on July 7, reporting an issue with the electronics cooling system. Specifically, the alert pointed to a fault in “EE Cooling Ops (1),” indicating a problem with the primary system responsible for keeping the aircraft’s electronic and avionics equipment at safe operating temperatures.
Cooling system issues, while rare, are critical for aircraft performance and safety. They can impact sensitive avionics and electronics, making it necessary for flight crews to act swiftly if redundant systems are also affected.
The crew followed standard safety procedures and safely landed the aircraft back at Newark at approximately 11:15 p.m. All passengers and crew disembarked without incident at Terminal C.
The aircraft involved in the incident is a 4.8-year-old Dreamliner powered by GEnX engines. United Airlines operates daily nonstop flights between Newark and Delhi, one of the busiest transcontinental routes linking the U.S. and India.
