Air India San Francisco-Delhi flight diverts to Mongolia after suspected snag

NEW DELHI: An Air India Boeing 777 (VT-AEH) operating a San Francisco (SFO)-Delhi via Kolkata flight Monday with almost 250 people on board safely diverted to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after pilots suspected a snag. AI is working on getting the 228 passengers and 17 crew members home.“AI 174 of Nov 2 made a precautionary landing at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after the flight crew suspected a technical issue en route. The aircraft landed safely at Ulaanbaatar and is undergoing the necessary checks,” said an AI spokesperson, adding “We are working closely with our partners to support all passengers while we make efforts to get everyone on their way to the destination at the earliest opportunity. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the unforeseen situation. At Air India, the safety of passengers and crew remain top priority.”Around 10 pm (IST), AI said: “(Passengers) were served meals on board and have been disembarked. Hotel arrangements have been made for their stay after clearing immigration procedures at the airport while Air India makes alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination Delhi at the earliest.”The over 16-year-old Boeing 777-200 long range had taken off from SFO at 2.25 pm Sunday for Kolkata from where it would have left for Delhi. Following a suspected snag, it safely landed in Ulaanbaatar.In such situations, the concerned sends an alternate aircraft with engineers & material to the place where its plane has diverted. Passengers and crew members of the diverted flight fly home on the alternate aircraft. The engineering team rectifies the aircraft and then flies it home. In the recent past, AI’s SFO-Delhi flight has at last twice diverted to Russia. In June 2023, passengers on one such flight that had diverted to Magadan in Russia finally reached home 57 hours after leaving SFO, counting in their 39-hour unscheduled halt in Magadan. In this case, AI had given a full refund to the 216 passengers and also a voucher for future travel. July 2024 saw a Delhi-SFO flight diverting to the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk following a snag. This time, however, AI was able to send an alternate aircraft from India fairly quickly.