Dubai-bound AI flight takes off after inordinate delay

Mumbai, May 15 (UNI) Irate passengers of Air India's 727 Mumbai-Dubai flight, irked over delay in departure of the flight, blocked people from boarding some other international flights at Sahar terminal today.

The passengers were demanding that their flight be allowed to take off first. The delay was caused by the late arrival of another flight of Air India from Dubai, by about three hours, an Airlines official told UNI.

The AI authorities later clubbed passengers of two Dubai-bound flights, including those of the 727 flight, into a bigger aircraft.

Subsequently, ''The Mumbai-Dubai flight '717 Alpha' with 40 business class passengers and 378 others took off at 1720 hrs this evening, after an inordinate delay of 12 hours,'' the official said.

''There was a heavy rush of passengers due to the delay. We had to arrange a bigger aircraft to accommodate the passengers of the two flights and this took some time,'' the official said.

UNI