Thursday, June 08, 2023

Air India passengers who were stranded in Russia land in San Francisco

An Air India flight sent to the remote Russian city of Magadan to pick up its stranded passengers has landed safely in San Francisco, the airline said Thursday.

“All our passengers are being extended maximum on-ground assistance with clearance formalities and provided other necessary support,” Air India wrote on Twitter.

Earlier in the week, an Air India flight AI173 from New Delhi to San Francisco had been diverted due to a technical issue with one of the plane’s engines. It landed in Russia’s Magadan airport, in the country’s far east, carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew.

In a statement Wednesday, Air India said a “ferry flight” took off from Mumbai to take the passengers to San Francisco subject to “necessary clearances.”

There are no Air India staff in the remote town of Magadan. Instead, the airline said support was provided to the passengers through “round-the-clock liaison” with the Consulate General of India in Vladivostok, a city about 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) south of Magadan, as well as India’s Ministry of External Affairs, local ground handlers and Russian authorities.

Russia has banned numerous western countries from operating in its airspace, though some carriers like Air India continue to fly over Russia.

The United States said earlier this week that it was monitoring the situation. “We are aware of a US-bound flight that had to make an emergency landing in Russia, and are continuing to monitor that situation closely,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

While Patel could not confirm how many US citizens were on the flight, he said it was “of course likely that there are American citizens on board.”

08/06/2023 Chris Liakos, Tara John, Michael Conte and Uliana Pavlova/ CNN/


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