{"id":15214,"date":"2025-07-04T11:13:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/stranded-uk-f-35-jet-becomes-unexpected-star-in-indian-tourism-campaign\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:13:12","slug":"stranded-uk-f-35-jet-becomes-unexpected-star-in-indian-tourism-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/stranded-uk-f-35-jet-becomes-unexpected-star-in-indian-tourism-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranded UK F-35 jet becomes unexpected star in Indian tourism campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2025-07\/250704-Navy-F-35B-fighter-jet-rs-f6e3f7.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-f2a41c\" class=\"body-graf\">NEW DELHI \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/incurable-nipah-brain-virus-kills-one-teenager-india-illness-rcna162991\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">India\u2019s southern state of Kerala<\/a> has found a unique ambassador to promote its coconut palm-lined beaches, backwaters and vibrant culture to tourists \u2014 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna55072104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">British F-35 fighter jet<\/a> that has been stranded there since mid-June.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-541496\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna55492822\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Royal Navy aircraft <\/a>was forced to make an emergency landing at the airport of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on June 14 and has been grounded ever since, despite efforts to repair it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8adf7d\" class=\"body-graf\">An AI-generated image of the stealth aircraft parked on the tarmac surrounded by coconut trees has gone viral after it was shared by Kerala\u2018s tourism department on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a626b8\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThis was part of our tourism campaign. It has been one of the most innovative and eye-catching ones&#8230; It\u2019s all in good humor and creativity,\u201d Biju K., Kerala\u2018s tourism secretary, told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-56957f\" class=\"body-graf\">In the viral social media post, originally created by entertainment website The Fauxy, the jet can be seen giving the state of Kerala five golden stars, calling it \u201can amazing place\u201d.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3a7881\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to leave. Definitely recommend,\u201d the image quotes the jet as saying.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-998e06\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThough tourism is under the government, it has moved out of government space in promoting the destination,\u201d said Roy Mathew, director of Stark Communications, the tourism department\u2019s brand promotion agency.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-18e389\" class=\"body-graf\">Kerala is among India\u2019s most popular tourist destinations, and markets itself with the tagline \u2018God\u2019s own country\u2019. Last year, 22.2 million tourists visited the state.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-172f51\" class=\"body-graf\">It boasts natural beauty along India\u2019s south-western coastline and a rich heritage of classical dances, temple festivals and vibrant cuisine.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a208fc\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/asia\/air-india-plane-ai171-crashes-ahmedabad-boeing-242-survivors-rcna212545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Indian Air Force<\/a> said last month it would help in the repair and return of the F-35, which made an emergency landing on June 14 when it was flying over the Arabian Sea off Kerala\u2018s coast.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a2685e\" class=\"body-graf\">A British High Commission spokesperson told Reuters the UK had accepted an offer to move the aircraft to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility at the airport. The jet will be moved to the hangar once engineering teams arrive from the UK with specialist equipment, the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0f1bcc\" class=\"body-graf\">The Royal Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8303a2\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">UK\u2019s Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard said in Parliament on Monday that a Royal Air Force crew were in Thiruvananthapuram and working with Indian counterparts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/asia\/stranded-uk-f-35-jet-becomes-unexpected-star-indian-tourism-campaign-rcna216931\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW DELHI \u2014 India\u2019s southern state of Kerala has found a unique ambassador to promote its coconut palm-lined beaches, backwaters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/newstime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}