NEW DELHI: Bad weather, exceeded duty hours of pilots, and alleged mismanagement forced 200 passengers on an Air India flight to a harrowing experience. The Air India flight en route to Delhi made an emergency landing at Jaipur Airport in the wee hours of Sunday.
The flight—AI 112—inbound to Delhi from London was expected to arrive at Delhi Airport at 4 am. However, it landed at Jaipur Airport at 3:49 am in bad weather conditions. After two hours, the flight received clearance to resume the journey to Delhi from the Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) but the pilots cited flight duty limitations and did not fly the aircraft. Finally, after a gap of nearly 11 hours, the plane disembarked at 2 pm.
A spokesperson of Air India said that the pilots did not deny but took the decision mandated by the DGCA for the passenger’s safety.
The crew was constrained by the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations to operate a flight to Delhi soon after the diversion to Jaipur. A fresh set of crew was subsequently arranged to fly the guests to Delhi at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Air India regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers while they waited in Jaipur. However, the actions taken in this case are purely in the interest of the safety of our guests and crew,” the official stated.
However, the passengers alleged gross mismanagement in arrangements by the Jaipur Airport and Air India. They complained that the inefficient management made passengers suffer as many missed their connecting flights and also did not receive lodging assistance as they waited at the airport.
“Initially, we were made to sit for two hours inside the aircraft. Then we waited for the bus to carry us to the terminal. Then we waited for our immigration and customs clearance. While we waited, we were not provided with a place to rest, a proper meal or even drinking water. After formalities, we were put near the conveyor belt at the airport where there were not enough seats for us. The passengers included elderly and children as well,” said Adit Kothari, who missed his connecting flight to Kolkata scheduled from Delhi Airport.
“At least, they should have had a passenger list of those flyers who were to board their connecting flight from Delhi. We were not informed how much time the aircraft would fly us again. Multiple times, we requested to manage connecting flights but they did not take note of it. The result is that almost all of such passengers missed the connecting flights from Delhi,” he added.
Another passenger said that the staff at the Jaipur Airport has been absolutely inept and incorrigible to provide people there with any assistance.
“The airport staff were willing to listen to us only after we met BJP MP and aired our grievances,” said the passenger who did not wish to be named.
“There are situations where such diversions happen but Air India was totally unprepared,” he added.
Speaking to this newspaper, a senior Air India official said that given the limited resources at the airport, the air carrier tried its best to comfort the passengers. Jaipur Airport is a small facility and is not equipped to handle emergency situations with an aircraft the size of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. While we were handling, the pilots and crew came under the FDTL so we had to arrange their alternative. All of this delayed the process. Passengers could have complaints but we tried our best to handle the emergency,” he said.