Air India pilots play truant, get down from aircraft and just leave Delhi passengers in Jaipur

As many as 350 passengers onboard Air India London-Delhi flight were left stranded at Jaipur airport for about three hours after pilots of AI-112 refused to fly the aircraft and disembarked, citing “our duty time is over”.

The flight, which was scheduled to arrive in Delhi around 4 pm, had made an emergency landing in Jaipur on Sunday due to bad weather above the airspace around Delhi. It circled in the sky for about 10 minutes before being diverted to the city in Rajasthan.

After about two hours, the Delhi-bound flight received clearance from the Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) to resume its journey, but the pilots refused to fly citing “our duty time is over”.

As per reports, the passengers of the flight, who were stranded at Jaipur airport, were asked to look for alternative arrangements. After around three hours, some of them were transported to Delhi by road, while others were flow to the national capital in the same flight after a replacement crew was arranged.

Travellers took to social media to express their anger. A passenger named Adit tweeted the plight of other onboard the Air India flight.

He alleged that no arrangements were made by Air India to send the stranded passengers to Delhi.

Tagging Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jaipur MP Rajyavardhan Singh and said, “Passengers of @airindia AI112 flying from London to Delhi have been diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather but passengers have not been assisted with any recourse to reaching their final destinations. @JM_Scindia please assist us urgently.”

“We did manage to speak with @Ra_THORe despite which we have received no assistance from the authorities at #JaipurAirport”,” the passenger said.

Passengers of @airindia AI112 flying from London to Delhi have been diverted to Jaipur due to bad weather but passengers have not been assisted with any recourse to reaching their final destinations. @JM_Scindia please assist us urgently. We did manage to speak with @Ra_THORe… pic.twitter.com/DjLOD8dXLK

— Adit (@ABritishIndian) June 25, 2023

Air India responded to the tweet, saying their team is ‘trying its best’ to minimise the inconvenience of the passengers.

“Please stop with the false promises!” Adit responded to the tweet.

Our team is trying its best to minimize the inconvenience caused. 2/2

— Air India (@airindia) June 25, 2023

"The staff at the Jaipur Airport have been absolutely inept and incorrigible to provide us with any assistance. The solution they have provided for all passengers to travel by coach to Delhi is absolutely damnable and ludicrous," Adit said.

A spokesperson from Air India, meanwhile, said it was misleading to say pilots of the Delhi-London flight (AI 112) left the aircraft citing their duty time is over.  The spokesperson added the cockpit crew was under flight duty time limitations (FDTL) when the aircraft was waiting for the Delhi weather conditions to improve and take off.

FDTL refer to the maximum number of hours a pilot can fly in a given period of time.

The spokesperson also said the passengers were served refreshments after mandatory immigration clearance at Jaipur airport and were flown into Delhi at 2 pm.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.