Mumbai: A Mumbai–bound Air India flight with 252 passengers, a majority of them from Maharashtra, was stranded at Turkey’s Ankara airport for 22 hours as the airport did not have a qualified engineer to conduct the mandatory pre-flight checks on the aircraft.
To deal with the emergency, AI authorities asked one of its engineers based in Vienna, Austria to reach Ankara airport to do the needful. The aircraft, which left London Thursday afternoon, had to land in Ankara due to a medical emergency involving a Portuguese passenger. The aircraft finally left Ankara at 8.11 pm on Friday and will land in Mumbai early Saturday.
The Dreamliner B787- 8 (twin jet), which took off from London at its scheduled time, had to make a medical emergency landing when Agnelo Bareto, a 53-year-old Portuguese male, complained of uneasiness. The aircraft thus landed at Ankara at 10.30 pm IST on Thursday and was supposed to take off after deboarding the passenger.
However, certain mandatory checks on the aircraft showed it to be ‘overweight’, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation. This meant that the luggage weight of the jumbo aircraft was shown to be more than the permissible limit prescribed by the regulator.
As a result, the aircraft had to ask the airport for a certified engineer to conduct the checks on the aircraft.
As the airport had no certified engineer for this type of aircraft, the national carrier had to summon its engineer from Vienna.
“The national carrier has no base and manpower at Ankara. Indian Embassy is handling the situation and is in constant touch with the airline to guide us with the situation. The aircraft pushed back at 8.11 pm and was expected to land in Mumbai at around 1.45 am,” said the airline spokesperson.
An airline official claimed that the passengers could not be shifted to a hotel due to Turkish visa restrictions. Meanwhile, the stranded passengers who were made to stay at the terminal during the delay alleged that the airline did not provide them with food and water. Vijay Patil, one of the passengers on board, said, “The airline lied to us about providing us with hotel stay. We are made to stay without food and water in the cold.” Mobin Khan, a resident of Ghatkopar, said, “We landed in Ankara due to a medical emergency but have no clue what the airline is doing for us to take off for Mumbai. Moreover, the temperature here is –8 degree Celsius.”
