The LA-bound flight via Frankfurt developed a technical fault before take-off and the airline could not manage to get spare equipment.
NEW DELHI: About 300 Air India passengers have been stranded at Delhi airport for two days now as their Los Angeles-bound flight via Frankfurt developed a technical fault before take-off and the airline could not manage to get spare equipment to repair the aircraft.
"We tried to source the spare equipment from all over... but have not been able to get compatible parts to be fitted in the aircraft," Air India spokesperson S Venkat said from Mumbai on Monday.
The flight, AI-137, scheduled for departure on Saturday, was delayed due to the malfunctioning of its weather radar.
The delay was further compounded by the lack of availability of aircraft as Air India's fleet was "fully deployed". Efforts to transfer passengers on to other carriers also proved a nought as this is the peak season for westbound travellers and there was no excess capacity.
A relief Boeing 747-400 aircraft, would now be flown in from Mumbai to carry the 290 passengers to their destinations, Venkat said.
However, the time of departure of this relief flight has not yet been finalised due to the "curfew time" at the airports in these destinations.
Due to these restrictions which prohibit all flight operations particularly during night time, the flight would take off only around 0100 hours on September five, he said.
Air India has been facing heavy expenditure due to the grounding of three other aircraft - one Boeing 777 and two Boeing 737-800s.
The airline has had to cancel the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight and slash its services to Chicago in the past few weeks. The cancellations are occurring during the peak travel season.
Besides not being able to operate these aircraft, the airline is paying heavy amounts, running into crores of rupees, as lease charges for these three aircraft, the sources said adding the lease rental for one B-777 is estimated to be around $750,000 per month.
While the leased Boeing 777 aircraft has been on ground since June this year due to the lack of a spare engine, the 737-800s were not being operated because of lack of pilots, they said.
Pilot shortage has also hit its subsidiary, Air India Express, which is now going slow on launching its planned new routes to the Gulf from Mangalore or Amritsar.
A large number of pilots have left Air India as well as the Indian for greener pastures in the new airlines emerging in the country, affecting operations of the two carriers.
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