Air India Passengers Stranded in Jaipur For 9 Hours After Pilot Refuses to Fly

New Delhi, India: A Paris-New Delhi Air India flight, AI-2022, was diverted to Jaipur early on Monday morning due to smog in national capital, leing to hours of chaos and frustration for passengers. flight, which took off from Paris at 10:00 PM on Sunday, was initially scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 10:35 AM on Monday. However, diversion was necessary because pilots were not qualified to perform low-visibility landings required by dense smog in Delhi.

While aircraft waited for clearance to resume its journey to Delhi, furr delays ensued when pilots refused to continue flying, citing exhaustion and ir completion of mandatory duty hours. refusal was in line with Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules, which are designed to ensure that pilots are equately rested to avoid fatigue-related safety issues.

With no immediate resolution in sight, stranded passengers were left frustrated. Many took to social media to voice ir dissatisfaction, with some passengers expressing anger over airline's lack of communication and support. One passenger, Vishal P., tweeted, “Shameful and patic management from @airindia today as flight #AI2022 from CDG-DEL diverted to JAI. Pax stranded at JAI asked to spend 5 hrs inside aircraft and n to take a bus from JAI to DEL. My wife and two-month-old are suffering, and I am helpless.”

Anor user, Giridhara Uphyaya, also criticized airline, highlighting plight of a mor traveling with an infant: “@airindia is not helping passengers from Paris to Bengaluru stranded in Jaipur since 12 noon. re is a mor with a 2-month-old baby, and y are not in mood to assist. Very inhuman staff.”

Despite growing unrest, sources revealed that Air India did not arrange an alternative flight for passengers, as it would have taken longer to organize one. Inste, passengers were finally transported to Delhi by bus, a journey that took several more hours.

As of now, re has been no official statement from Air India regarding incident, but sources noted that airline’s decision to send passengers by ro was me to avoid furr delays caused by arranging anor flight.