Air India Dispatches Relief Flight to Mongolia After Technical Issue Diverts San Francisco-Delhi Flight

The relief aircraft landed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to assist stranded passengers.

New Delhi:

Air India announced on Tuesday its plan to dispatch a relief flight to transport passengers from the San Francisco-Delhi flight that was diverted to Mongolia following a suspected technical malfunction.

Air India flight AI174, which was operating from San Francisco to Delhi with a stopover in Kolkata on November 2, executed a precautionary landing at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after the crew identified a possible technical issue during the journey.

"Air India will be operating a relief flight to ferry the passengers of flight AI174 (San Francisco-Delhi of 02 November), which was diverted to Ulaanbaatar on Monday. The ferry flight AI183 is scheduled to depart Delhi this afternoon and return with the affected passengers on Wednesday morning," the airline confirmed in its latest statement.

The carrier further stated that it has been collaborating with local authorities and the Indian Embassy in Mongolia to ensure the comfort of passengers and crew, including arranging hotel accommodations.

"Guests have been kept informed about the arrangements being made to fly them to Delhi. At Air India, the safety and well-being of our passengers and crew remain top priority," an Air India spokesperson emphasized.

The airline had previously confirmed that the aircraft landed safely at Ulaanbaatar and was undergoing necessary technical inspections.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced last week that Air India has been granted a temporary extension of flight duty time for two-pilot Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operating on European routes, which have become extended due to Pakistani airspace closure.

According to the civil aviation regulator, this extension was implemented based on specific operational requirements related to aircraft on European routes having to follow longer flight paths following Pakistan's airspace closure.

For two-pilot Boeing 787 operations, the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) has been extended to 10 hours and 30 minutes from the previous 10 hours, and the Flight Duty Period (FDP) increased to 14 hours from the original 13 hours.