New Delhi: Passengers of a San Francisco-bound Air India flight had a tough time at the Delhi airport on Thursday evening as the departure was delayed for more than six hours due to a technical issue with the aircraft. The flight AI 183, which was to be operated with a Boeing 777 aircraft and take off at around 1530 hours on Thursday, has been rescheduled and will now take off at 1500 hours (3 pm) on Friday, according to an airline official. Some passengers of the flight took to social media complaining about the delay and one of them said that there was no air conditioning in the plane.
"If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is @airindia @DGCAIndia AI 183 flight has been delayed for over 8 hours, passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight. This is inhuman! @JM_Scindia," Shweta Punj, a journalist, said in a post on X on Thursday night. She also shared a picture of passengers sitting on the floor at the Delhi airport.
The airline official said the aircraft had developed a technical issue and engineering checks were carried out. Due to the delay, the crew had crossed the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) and also if the flight had taken off, it would have reached San Francisco when there are night landing restrictions there, the official added. The flight is now scheduled to take off at 1500 hours on Friday, the official said and added that passengers were offered the options of ful.