Hyderabad, July 19 -- An Air India Express flight heading to Phuket, Thailand, made an emergency return to Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport just 16 minutes into the flight from takeoff on Saturday morning, July 19, owing to a reported technical malfunction.

Flight IX110, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 (VT-BWA), departed at about 6:41 a.m. and arrived back at 6:57 a.m., after flying into airspace above Andhra Pradesh. The flight, which was initially due to depart at 6:20 a.m., was already delayed by about 20 minutes.

Though all the passengers and crew members were reported safe, the airline did not reveal the extent of the technical malfunction. Passengers sat on board for a while after arrival, waiting for further directives.

Passeng...