AI denies report that pilots on board slept

Air India says that a Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the ATC for a short while on June 4.

Air India on Thursday said a Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the air traffic control (ATC) for a short while on June 4.

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Commenting on a news report that the flight had flown past its destination of Mumbai with the pilots fatigued and fast asleep, AI's director for public relations Jitender Bhargava said, "We emphatically deny the report. No such incident took place. We've checked our records."

Maintaining that the report on the incident did not mention the date of flight, he said that on June 4 the Jaipur-Mumbai flight had lost radio contact with the ATC for some time, leading the plane to fly 24 km off Mumbai and not half-way to Goa.

Bhargava said that AI pilots had not slept on board and were not woken up by the ATC personnel.

The Dubai-Jaipur-Mumbai flight IC 612, which was on its domestic leg, had about 100 passengers on board.