It can only happen with Air-India

When contacted, an Air India official in charge of operations said: “Please talk to the duty manager.” But the duty manager was unavailable for comment.

On Saturday, the flight, with 317 passengers on board, was set to take off when a snag was discovered in a “key” spare part. Sources say the flight could not take off even on Sunday as the part which was to be replaced had to be brought from Mumbai. After being grounded for 36 hours, the flight took off at 9.30 am today but returned at 3.30 in the afternoon.

For an international flight, it’s routine procedure for an airline to inform Air Traffic Control of all countries over which it flies. “Since all flights normally follow a Pre-Destination Route (PDR), any change of plan has to be immediately informed to the country over which the plane is flying.” And since the pilots have little room to deviate from the PDR, any refusal means the plane has to return.

Meanwhile, another Air India flight AI-128 flying from Chicago to Mumbai via New Delhi has been “indefinitely” delayed. The flight was to land at IGIA on Monday morning at 12.55 am before leaving for Mumbai. Sources say that as with the Tokyo flight, the Chicago one also needs “replacement of an important part.”