New Delhi: A Kolkata-bound Air India plane, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee onboard, was delayed by nearly four hours on Saturday due to a technical snag in the aircraft's cooling unit. The flight (AI-020) was scheduled to take off at 2.25 pm but left the Indira Gandhi International airport here at 6.11 pm, after the airline arranged for an alternative plane. “The delay occurred after one of the cooling units failed. Our engineering teams tried to replace the unit but when the problem could not be resolved, we arranged for an alternate aircraft.” “The plane that returned from Amritsar at 3.50 pm was the first aircraft that could be made available,” an airline official said on the condition of anonymity. Ms Banerjee was in Delhi for talks with Opposition parties to formulate a strategy against the BJP government.
