AI flight delayed as crew reports sick

The passengers of a Hyderabad-bound Air India flight were stranded at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for about three hours on Monday, after the aircraft crew reported late for duty.

The passengers of a Hyderabad-bound Air India flight were stranded at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for about three hours on Monday, after the aircraft crew reported late for duty.

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The Delhi-Hyderabad flight (IC 940), which was supposed to depart at 6.40 a.m, took-off at 9.30 a.m and reached Hyderabad at 11.45 a.m.

"I had reached the airport on time and just before the flight was scheduled to take-off, the passengers were told that it has been delayed," said Anjan Ray, one of the passengers.

"This is Air India’s first flight out of Delhi for Hyderabad and I have taken it many times. This was the first instance when it was delayed," he said.

Ray, a resident of Delhi, said the airline staff had no clue about the reason behind the delay. "Since this is the first flight, it was clear that there shouldn’t be any delay due to the aircraft arriving late from another place," he said.

The Airbus A320 with 140 passengers onboard, had two pilots and four cabin crew members. While the commander and the co-pilot reported for duty, the cabin crew didn’t.

There was a delay because the cabin crew of the flight reported late for duty, said an Air India spokesman.

"We had to arrange for a replacement crew, but since it was early morning, it took us some time," he said.