Aggrieved by delayed flight: AI flier calls cops, says ‘there is a hijack-like situation’

The London-Ahmedabad via Mumbai AI-130 flight, which operates using a Dreamliner aircraft got delayed by over three hours over some “administrative issues”, airport officials claimed.

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The aircraft, that is believed to have landed in Mumbai from London around 4 am , took off with passengers to Ahmedabad only at about 7.15 am, though the official departure time given to the passengers was 5.30 am, a senior police officer attached with the Sahar police pointed out.

“The Mumbai police control room received a phone call from a flier, who was identified as Kothari (60), a resident of Vile Parle. He had dialed the police control room number 100 around 8 am. The call was made from the premises of the airport terminal building. His call to the control room was brief and teams were sent to check the flight soon,” said a senior police officer.

Following the short call made by Kothari, the control room contacted the concerned police station which further relayed the information to the Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) authorities.

“I called my counterparts in the CISF at the airport and their intelligence unit. They confirmed that there was no ‘hijacking’ but a mere expression to vent out the discomfort and inconvenience caused by the Air India authorities to the passengers. There is a particular flying period that a pilot cannot breach. However, there appeared to be an overlap in the schedule leading to non-availability of pilot to fly the plane while some other crew members too had not arrived. This, however, was never communicated to the passengers who were headed for Ahmedabad,” the officer added.

Later Kothari, when he was being quizzed by the police, claimed that since Air India officials “did not provide any facilities” in terms of food or water and answers about the status of the flight, he decided to call the control room and “lodge his complaint”.

But officers at the control room claimed that Kothari never registered any complaint.

A senior police officer admitted that there was panic among the security forces with the word “hijack” used by a caller especially following tight security ahead of the Republic Day celebrations.

According to airport officials, there were about 90 transit fliers on-board the AI-130 for nearly three hours, some of whom were believed to be
children traveling with their mothers. Another 140 passengers from Mumbai were being accommodated on the flight in intervals and Kothari was one of them.
Air India’s Ahmedabad to London via Mumbai flight was launched on December 15 last year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement during his November visit to the United Kingdom and airport officials claim that the service has been troubled with “administrative issues that have still not been addressed” ever since its operations began.

Airport police sources claimed that the flight gets delayed by at least two hours every other day on an average.Police sources said that no complaint will be registered against Kothari and don’t believe that his call was “a prank call”.Despite several attempts, Air India officials were not available for their comments over the issue.

rohit.alok@expressindia.com