NEW DELHI– Air India announced Tuesday that it will operate a special relief flight to bring back passengers stranded in Mongolia after a San Francisco–Delhi flight made a precautionary landing in Ulaanbaatar due to a suspected technical issue.
Flight AI174, operating from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata on November 2, diverted to Ulaanbaatar when the crew detected a potential technical fault mid-flight. The airline said the aircraft landed safely and has since been undergoing necessary checks.
“Air India will be operating a relief flight to ferry the passengers of flight AI174 (San Francisco–Delhi of November 2), 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 said in a statement.
Air India added that it has been coordinating closely with local authorities and the Indian Embassy in Mongolia to provide accommodation and assistance to passengers and crew. “Guests have been kept informed about the arrangements being made to fly them to Delhi. At Air India, the safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew remain top priority,” said an airline spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently granted Air India a temporary extension of flight duty limits for two-pilot Boeing 787 Dreamliner operations on European routes. The extension allows a Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) of 10 hours and 30 minutes, up from 10 hours, and a Flight Duty Period (FDP) of 14 hours, up from 13 hours.
According to the DGCA, the adjustment was made due to extended flight paths necessitated by the ongoing closure of Pakistani airspace. (Source: IANS)
