On Thursday, the 232 passengers and crew members of Air India’s diverted Delhi-San Francisco (SFO) aircraft of June 6 finally left for their destination, 39 hours after diverting to Russia’s far eastern port city of Magadan.
AI 173 took off from Delhi at 4.05 a.m. on June 6 made a precautionary landing in Magadan at 2.10 p.m. (all times IST) due to an engine issue on the Boeing 777. On Wednesday afternoon, AI sent another B777 from Mumbai as a ferry flight (no passengers) to the Russian city, eventually transporting those stranded there to SFO at 5 a.m. (IST) on June 8. The plane is scheduled to arrive at SFO at 12:15 a.m.
Air said, “Flight AI173D (d stands for delayed) from Magadan is now airborne for SFO, carrying all passengers and crew. It departed 10.27 am on June 8 (local time) and is expected to arrive SFO at 12.15 am on June 8 (local time). Air India has mobilised additional on-ground support at SFO to carry out the clearance formalities for all passengers upon arrival. The team at SFO is prepared to provide all necessary assistance to the passengers, including but not limited to medical care, ground transportation, and onward connections in applicable cases.”
The ferry flight took crew, engineers, and materials to repair the engine stuck aircraft in Magadan and return it to Delhi.
Magadan, a small far eastern Russian port town, lacks large hotels, therefore all 232 people were forced to remain in makeshift accommodations such as dorms and basketball courts, with many people sleeping on the floor. Social media was flooded with videos and photos of travellers at these locations.
On Wednesday Air India said, “Given the infrastructural limitations around the remote airport, we can confirm that all passengers were eventually moved to a makeshift accommodation, after making sincere attempts to accommodate passengers in hotels locally with the help of local government authorities. As we do not have any Air India staff based in the remote town of Magadan or in Russia, all ground support being provided to the passengers is the best possible in this unusual circumstance through our round the clock liaison with the Consulate General of India in Vladivostok, local ground handlers, and Russian authorities.”
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