An AI ferry flight taking off for Magadan from Mumbai today
Mumbai/Washington: After the San Francisco-bound Air India flight AI173 with 216 passengers and 16 staff on board made an emergency landing in Russia’s Magadan (GDX) due to a technical snag, the airlines despatched a ferry flight (AI195) from Mumbai today which is expected to reach GDX at 0630 hours (local time) on June 8, 2023. The aircraft operating the ferry flight will take all passengers and crew onward to San Francisco on 08 June 2023.
An Air India team is on board the ferry flight to provide any support the passengers and staff at GDX may require and the ferry flight is carrying essentials in addition to a sufficient amount of food to cater to all passengers on the onward flight scheduled from GDX to San Francisco (SFO).
Al173 operating Delhi-San Francisco on 06 June 2023 had developed a technical issue en route with one of its engines. Thereafter, the flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew was diverted to Magadan, Russia (GDX).
“We engaged with the local authorities at GDX which extended all cooperation and support upon the flight’s arrival at GDX,” an Air India spokesperson said.
Given the infrastructural limitations around the remote airport, Air India said 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.
“We truly apologize for all the inconvenience caused and appreciate the patience of the passengers,” Air India tweeted.
As the airline does not have any Air India staff based in Magadan or in Russia, Air India said 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, Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India), local ground handlers, and the Russian authorities”.
“All of us at Air India are concerned about the passengers and staff and are making every effort possible to operate the ferry flight as soon as possible, and to ensure the health, safety, and security of all while they wait, the spokesperson said.
The emergency landing of the aircraft in Russia has raised concerns over the safety of its citizens in the United States in the face of the ongoing tension with Russia and the geopolitics in the region.
In Washington, US State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that they were continuing to monitor that situation closely. “I’m not able to confirm how many U.S. citizens were aboard the flight at this time… it was a flight that was bound for the United States, so, it is, of course, likely that there are American citizens on board,” Patel said. Replying to a query during a press conference that in the face of the various embargoes and sanctions on Russia, whether the US will allow exemptions for the export of parts in case replacements were required in the stranded aircraft, Patel said he was not going to speculate on that. “We’ll let Air India speak to any steps that they’re taking as it relates to mitigating the technical issues,” he said.
On another question on whether the US State Department also contacted Russian officials over the safety of American citizens, Patel said he was not going to get into specifics but added “There are steps that we can take in assessing manifests and passengers who may be bound for the United States. But again, I’m just not going to get ahead of this process beyond saying that we are continuing to monitor the situation”.
– global bihari bureau
