NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: A Delhi-bound Air India flight from Bhubaneswar was cancelled on Sunday due to "high temperature" in the aircraft cabin just prior to its departure. The back-up equipment inside the plane to rectify the situation was not working, said multiple sources familiar with the matter.
A technical glictch was detected to Air India Flight AI 500 flight in which a total of 183 passengers were supposed to board. This aircraft was scheduled to depart at 12.35 pm from Terminal 1 of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) and reach New Delhi at 2.55 pm. This incident is one more in the series of AI flights impacted due to technical glitches in the last two months.
Passengers waiting to board the flight at the boarding gate were told four hours later that the flight had been cancelled.
An Air India spokesperson said in a statement, “Flight AI500 scheduled to operate from Bhubaneswar to Delhi on 3 August has been cancelled due to a technical issue causing high cabin temperature on ground prior to the departure. Our airport team in Bhubaneswar is assisting the impacted passengers with alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination Delhi. “
BPIA Director Prasanna Pradhan too confirmed the incident and said, “An Air India flight scheduled to depart from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi was cancelled at about 4.45 pm due to high cabin temperature.”
The Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) located in the fuselage of an aircraft, plays the role of a generator and supplies power for the aircraft when it is on the ground or in some situations during the flight. A source said, “The APU was not working. Hence, the temperature could not be regulated as is normally done in such conditions. This resulted in the cancellation of the flight.”
Another source said, “The maintenance of the APU had been outsourced to a ground handling agency which handles other maintenance aspects too for the airline at the airport. It was negligence on their part.”
Air India arranged to rebook passengers on another flight late Sunday night or on flights operated by other airlines on Monday. “Full refunds were given to those who chose to cancel, and accommodation was arranged for those who needed it,” the spokesperson added.
