New Delhi: Air India is going through a rough time.
After passengers complained of being stranded in Thailand’s Phuket for 80 hours due to delays and cancellation of a Delhi-bound flight, news of another of its international flights is making headlines.
This one is no less sensational.
A Paris-New Delhi Air India flight was diverted to Jaipur and the pilot refused to fly further as he had completed his duty hours!
Chaos ensued at Jaipur airport with hundreds of passengers left stranded for many hours.
The airline authorities ultimately made arrangements to send them to Delhi by road.
The airline is yet to issue a statement on the bizarre development. However, it was learnt that Air India did not arrange an alternative flight as that would have taken longer than sending the passengers to the National Capital on a bus.
Having taken off from Paris at 10 pm (local time) on Sunday, AI-2022 was scheduled to land at Delhi’s IGI airport at 10.35 am (IST) on Monday.
The flight, though, had to be diverted to Jaipur because of dense smog in Delhi and the pilots were not qualified to make low-visibility landings, sources said.
As the flight waited at Jaipur airport for clearance to resume its journey to Delhi, the pilots refused to continue flying, citing completion of duty hours.
As per Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules framed by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, any flight crew must get enough rest to prevent fatigue-related safety issues.
A passenger took to social media to slam the ‘pathetic management’ by Air India and its inability to arrange an alternate flight.
“Shameful and pathetic management from @airindia today as flight #AI2022 from CDG-DEL diverted to JAI. Pax stranded at JAI asked to spend 5 hrs inside the aircraft and then to take a bus from JAI to DEL. My wife and two months old is suffering and I am helpless,” Vishal P posted on X.
Another user, Giridhara Upadhayaya, wrote: “@airindia is not helping passengers from Paris to Bengaluru stranded in Jaipur since 12 noon.there is a mother with 2 months baby and they are not in the mood to assist. Very inhuman staff.”
