Frankfurt to Mumbai: AI flight takes 24 hours

It took almost a day for 140 passengers of an Air India flight to travel from Frankfurt to Mumbai via Delhi. The aircraft, AI 120, took off at 2pm from Delhi airport only to return after an hour. For the 140 passengers, the onward journey to Mumbai could only be started at 8pm, almost 10 hours after they had landed in Delhi.
AI 120, which was travelling from Frankfurt to Mumbai via Delhi, had landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 11am, said sources. One hundred and forty passengers were thereafter supposed to fly to Mumbai. The flight, however, could only take off at 2pm, after a delay of more than three hours. Trouble started when the flight, after being in the air for an hour, had to return to Delhi due to a technical snag. Officials said the passengers were taken to the transit lounge, and asked to wait there.
According to sources, the plan was to board these 140 passengers on another AI aircraft coming from Jeddah to Delhi. "We wanted to put the passengers on this flight to Mumbai," said the official. The passengers were accordingly informed. However, after hours of waiting in the transit lounge without food and other sustenance, passengers complained about the inordinate delay.
21/11/10 Times of India

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Categories: Air India - International Nov 2010, Air India Nov 2010, Airports Nov 2010