150 Air India flyers to Newark stranded for seven hours at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Around 150 passengers aboard Air India’s flight to Newark on Saturday faced a harrowing time for seven hours inside the plane as well as at the airport as their flight got cancelled due to a technical snag and Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) of the crew.

They left on the same flight on Sunday. Meanwhile another AI flight to London was delayed by around three hours, which AI officials blamed on a “mock security drill” by the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL).

AI-191 from Mumbai to Newark was supposed to depart at 1.30 am. The passengers had finished boarding the flight by 1 am, 10 minutes after which the crew announced a technical snag.

“For the next three and a half hours, there was no news on the status of the snag. We remained in the aircraft until 5.30 am after which they instructed us to deplane, followed by another three-hour wait at the immigration area. Air India staff finally announced the cancellation of the flight only after we expressed our displeasure,” said Dr Arun Shah, a passenger.

There were around 150 passengers aboard the Boeing B777 aircraft. The AI spokesperson, however, clarified that there was a genuine technical snag that was detected, but by the time it was in the process of being rectified, the crew had crossed their DGCA stipulated duty hours.

“Also, arranging for a fresh crew would take time. We offered to book them into hotels for the same flight the next day on Sunday or take another AI flight to JFK in New York from New Delhi,” the spokesperson said. At least 44 passengers took the hotel accommodation. Those from from Ahmedabad were sent to Delhi for the JFK flight that left Sunday midnight. The others departed on Sunday’s 1.30 am AI-191 to Newark.

Regarding the delay of the Mumbai-London AI-131 that left at 4.20 pm on Saturday instead of 2 pm, AI officials blamed it on a sudden mock drill at the airport. An MIAL spokesperson, however, said, “Such drills are duly intimated to all stakeholders, including the airlines.”