244 Air-India passengers heading to Muscat from Mumbai have been left stranded in Dubai for more than 24 hours.
Air India flight A912 was forced to fly back after a technical glitch was found in the aeroplane. All the passengers were safely deplaned at the Dubai airport in an hour. Now, the flight is scheduled to leave from Dubai at 6.30 a.m (IST) on Wednesday.
The flight had taken off at 4.20 a.m and crossed the Gulf of Oman, approaching Muscat when the glitch was noticed by the crew. “The aircraft had crossed the Gulf of Oman, but due to pressurisation issues, the captain decided to return. As the problem was identified by the crew on time, no inconvenience was caused to the passengers on board,” said a source.
“Engineers from the airline will be flying to Dubai with necessary material to rectify the fault in the grounded aircraft,” said Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar.
When asked the reason for not accommodating stranded passengers in the flight scheduled at night , an airline official said, “Passengers could not be adjusted in the alternative flight owing to the load.”