 "A British Royal Navy fighter jet being moved to a designated facility for British engineers to assess it after remaining stranded for about a month following a technical issue, at Kerala airport in Thiruvananthapuram, July 6, 2025. File Photo/PTI")
A stranded British fighter jet is set to leave Kerala after more than five weeks. The state-of-the-art F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jet is expected to fly out of the southern Indian state on Tuesday (July 22).
The British Royal Navy’s plane had landed in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in mid-June and remained grounded since then. The jet inadvertently became a unique ambassador to promote the state’s tourism, with the prolonged grounding making it a subject of jokes .
But how much did it cost to park the British plane in a foreign airport?
Let’s take a closer look.
Why British jet remained grounded in Kerala for weeks
The UK Royal Navy’s F-35 Lightning II fighter jet made an emergency landing at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on the night of June 14.
The highly advanced stealth jet, built by Lockheed Martin, is worth more than $110 million.
According to defence officials, the British aircraft was running low on fuel. It also faced bad weather as the jet was flying about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala, leading to the pilot onboard the plane seeking permission to land at the civilian airport in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) helped with refuelling the UK’s advanced stealth aircraft , which was part of the fleet of the HMS Prince of Wales. However, the jet encountered hydraulic failure during its attempted return.
Despite efforts to repair it, the plane continued to be grounded. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guarded the British aircraft, which was parked at bay number 4 of the domestic terminal.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWhile India offered to move the jet to a hangar or temporary shed amid concerns about monsoon rains, the UK initially resisted the calls.
How the British fighter jet was finally repaired
A 24-member British Royal Air Force technical team landed in Kerala on July 6 on board a Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft to inspect the grounded jet. It comprised 14 technical experts from the British Royal Air Force and 10 crew members.
The team came with specialist equipment necessary for the movement and repair process.
The UK Ministry of Defence said they had deployed a team of 14 engineers “to Thiruvananthapuram airport to assess and repair the F-35B aircraft”.
The British Royal Navy’s F-35B was later towed to Air India’s maintenance hangar at the airport following the arrival of the team of experts from the UK.
The team worked under intense security and secrecy, operating in a restricted zone of the hangar, Mathrubhumi reported. The repair operations have been kept under wraps, with British military officials providing protection to the jet.
As per The Hindu report, the auxiliary power unit of the combat aircraft developed some major snags, which needed services of an expert team.
The maintenance work on the grounded British fighter jet was finished last week.
There were speculations that if the expert team from the UK failed to repair the aircraft, it would be dismantled and flown out in a bigger cargo plane such as a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft.
The F-35B will now depart Kerala on July 22. However, the exact time of its departure is “yet to be communicated, which airport will be used for refuelling on the way to London or when the backup aircraft will arrive to transport the technicians and equipment back,” an airport official told the BBC.
Parking the British jet in India for over a month cost…
The UK authorities will have to pay a hefty sum in parking fees for the aircraft for each day it was stationed at the Thiruvananthapuram airport since June 14. The fee for using the hangar facility since July 6 will be charged by AI Engineering Services Ltd, which owns the hangar and provides the maintenance, repairs, and overhaul facility, reported The Hindu.
According to the Indian Defence Research Wing (IDRW), the British fighter jet F-35B has reportedly incurred daily parking charges of Rs 26,261. This amounts to about Rs 9.19 lakh for over 35 days.
With inputs from agencies