Pilot not available: Air India's flight delayed for nearly 2 hrs

New Delhi, Jan 11: Passengers including an NHRC delegation on board an Air India plane were today stranded for nearly two hours allegedly as the airline did not have a pilot for the Bhubaneswar-bound flight.

Airline's flight AI-75 was scheduled to depart for Bhubaneswar at 1100 hours this morning. The National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC) delegation was going there for conducting a state-level workshop on bonded labour.

However, the passengers of this flight had to wait inside the aircraft for almost 1 hour and 45 minutes due to the non-availability of flight crew, sources said.

"All the passengers including the NHRC delegation checked-in on-time. However, it failed to take off as there was no pilot available to fly the plane. During this period, the passengers remained seated in the aircraft," the source said.

The workshop is scheduled to be held tomorrow. "Unfortunately, there was no word from the airline staff on the expected take off time," the source said, adding the flight could take off at 1445 hours after the passengers protested and demanded that the airline arrange the flight crew.

Last week also, one of the airline's flights to the Odisha capital was delayed by eight hours as Air India had allegedly assigned the aircraft and crew of that flight to its Bhopal flight to favour some VIPs including a BJP Minister from Madhya Pradesh.

PTI