Ordeal for Air India passengers after Jet Airways mishap

Ahmedabad: Fifty-seven passengers of a Jet Airways flight had a miraculous escape when the aircraft's nose-wheel suffered a breakdown after landing at Ahmedabad on Thursday night.
However, the incident resulted in a harrowing time for more than 200 passengers of an international flight of Air India.
The New Jersey-Frankfurt-Ahmedabad flight of Air India was slated to land at Ahmedabad at 9.20 pm on Thursday.
However, it could not do so as the Jet Airways aircraft had blocked the runway.
After hovering above Ahmedabad airport for some time, pilots of AI Flight 144 decided to return to Mumbai. This is where the ordeal of the 230 passengers aboard the flight began. The passengers were not allowed to de-board at Mumbai, and had to spend the whole night sitting in the plane.
According to passengers, they were allowed to alight from the aircraft only in the morning for having snacks in the airport lounge.
Vinoda Pandya, a passenger from US, said, "It was a very bad experience for us. We were not provided food or water or tea in the flight. After landing in Mumbai, we were not told when we would be leaving for Ahmedabad. We spent the night in the aircraft."
However, Air India officials said that passengers were not offloaded from the aircraft as they were expecting to leave for Ahmedabad a couple of hours after landing at Mumbai. But, the flight got delayed as they didn't get clearance from Ahmedabad ATC, they said.
24/07/10 Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Air India - International Jul 2010, Airports Jul 2010, Jet Airways Jul 2010, NACIL Jul 2010