NEW DELHI: An IndiGo flight carrying 310 passengers to Manchester, which returned midway to Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday after taking off from there, finally departed for its destination 21 hours later.
A Delhi airport source said the flight took off at 11.50 am on Tuesday.
The flight had been airborne for nearly 14 hours after it left from Delhi early on Monday before it returned in the afternoon. This was the first IndiGo flight operating towards Manchester since February 28 following the US-Israel strikes on Iran.
The Boeing 787-9 aircraft, 6E 033, which took off from Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport at 12.42 am on Monday, returned by 2.22 pm, said an airport source. Passengers thus ended up being airborne for 13 hours and 40 minutes, literally travelling from Delhi to Delhi. The aircraft was leased from Norse Atlantic Airways.
Another IndiGo flight carrying around 300 passengers from London Heathrow Airport to Mumbai (6E2) was on Monday diverted to Cairo due to air space restrictions. An IndiGo spokesperson said, “The passengers were accommodated in hotels and the flight is slated for departure by Tuesday evening.”