A total of seven Air India International flights were cancelled on Tuesday due to varying reasons, including technical glitches and aircraft unavailability.
Six among the cancelled flights involved were Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, the same as the one which crashed in Ahmedabad.
Two flights, one scheduled from Ahmedabad to London and the other from Delhi to Paris, were cancelled on Tuesday, after technical glitches were discovered in both the aircrafts.
Two flights, one from London to Amritsar and another from Bengaluru to London, have also been cancelled by Air India.
“We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and are making alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination at the earliest. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers,” said Air India in a statement.
The Air India flight AI 159 from Ahmedabad to London, the first since the deadly crash last week, was scheduled to take off at 1.10 pm on Tuesday.
The flight was renamed as AI 159 after Air India retired the AI 171 following the deadly crash that killed over 270 people.
Similarly, the Air India flight from Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi to Charles de Gaulle (GDG) airport in Paris was also cancelled on Tuesday after the aircraft developed an issue during the pre-flight checks. The issue is presently being addressed by the airline.
An Air India flight AI 180, flying from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata also suffered a technical snag in one of its engines, forcing passengers to deplane during the scheduled halt at West Bengal’s capital early on Tuesday.
Flight AI180, a Boeing 777-200LR, landed in Kolkata at 12.45 am and was scheduled to depart for Mumbai at 2 am. However, during its scheduled halt, a technical snag was detected in the aircraft’s left engine, delaying its onward journey. Around 5.20 am, an announcement was made on board asking all passengers to deplane.
