On July 18, 2024, Air India had to divert a flight into Russia. Air India was operating AI183, its 3X weekly service to San Francisco, using VT-ALG, a 15-year-old Boeing 777-200LR delivered to Air India in 2009. The aircraft departed on time from Delhi and was overflying Russia when it squawked 7700 and turned around after roughly six hours of flight. As per available information, the aircraft has now arrived at the Krasnoyarsk Airport (KJA) and had a safe landing. It seems this was the nearest airport available for a diversion.

While Air India was initially optimistic and thought it would be a touch-and-go operation, things changed after it arrived in Krasnoyarsk. The airline got its crew to move to hotels for rest. However, the customers on board were not granted visas and had to stay in a segregated part of the airport.

As per Air India, on arrival around midnight, Air India activated their local support. Food and beverage amenities at the terminal, which were closed for the evening, were opened in the morning, and meals were provided to all passengers.

Representatives from the Indian consulate in Moscow travelled overnight and worked with Russian authorities to allow passengers to move to hotels, which have been on standby throughout the night.

Air India decided it was better to send an alternate aircraft to Krasnoyarsk, which could pick up the passengers and take them to San Francisco. Air India dispatched an alternate aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER bearing tail number VT-AEQ. This is one of the newly inducted ex-Etihad airframes. This aircraft is on its way right now and took off from Mumbai at 1100 hours IST.

As per Air India, this flight is expected to arrive at KJA at 8 PM local time on July 19, 2024. Air India is bringing in crew and security personnel to ensure the smooth transfer of passengers to their new aircraft. Security personnel will later be needed to guard the asset while it is fixed and brought back to India.

Additionally, Air India assured that there would be enough catering on board for passengers to take them to their final destination.

The Hindu BusinessLine reported that AI173 was also carrying a team of five aircraft engineers who were being sent to rectify the choked toilets on an SFO-DEL flight. The flight had to return to SFO after four hours of flying a day earlier, and the aircraft is still at SFO.

Since fire extinguishers were activated in the cargo hold, the diverted aircraft couldn’t carry any luggage or cargo and had to return to India. There were no certified engineers in the Russian town to inspect and release the grounded aircraft.

Bottomline

Air India’s VT-ALG, operating as AI183 between Delhi and San Francisco, diverted to the KJA airport in Russia after 6.5 hours of flying on July 18, 2024. Air India has dispatched a 777-300ER to bring those passengers to SFO and ferry the team of engineers who will bring VT-ALG back to India. In the meantime, passengers on board had to spend time in the airport terminal because they were not granted Russian visas at night.

How long before you reckon the passengers will be on their way again?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.