Air India Sends Empty Plane to Bring Back Delhi-Newark Flight Passengers Stuck in Stockholm

An Air India Newark to Delhi flight was diverted to Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The flight, which was carried out using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, had an oil leak in one of the engines, according to the top DGCA official. The Flight AAI106 was carrying 284 passengers and eight crew members, all of whom are still stuck in Stockholm. As per reports, Air India is now sending an empty flight from Mumbai to Sweden to bring back the stranded passengers. Air India has finalised the itinerary of a ferry flight to bring back the passengers and crew of a Newark-Delhi flight.

"A B777 will fly from Mumbai to Stockholm at 2 p.m. on Thursday and reach Stockholm at 11 p.m. The flight with passengers will take off at 1 a.m. on Friday an will reach Delhi at 8 a.m. in the morning," said the airline spokesperson on Thursday. Air India had arranged hotel accommodation for all the passengers.

Earlier, an official mentioned, "After the engine was shut down due to the oil leak, the flight successfully landed in Stockholm. The flight had 300 passengers onboard, along with 284 pax and 8 infants. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), during the ground inspection, oil was seen coming out from the drain mast of engine two of the plane.

According to the government data, a total 1,090 incidents of technical snags were reported in 2021-22. Technical snags are experienced during operation of the aircraft. These may be due to improper functioning or malfunctions of systems or equipment or components fitted on the aircraft.

Some of the technical snags may require the flight crew to take actions such as air turn back, aborted take-off, or go around keeping safety of operation in view and are usually taken to avert serious incidents.

With IANS inputs