Air India’s Delhi-San Francisco flight delayed by 20 hours, passengers faint without AC

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NEW DELHI: As Delhi burns at over 50 degrees Celsius, the delay for passengers at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport was unending.

An Air India flight to San Francisco was on Thursday delayed for over 20 hours due to multiple reasons. Flight AI 183, originally scheduled to take off at 3.20 pm on Thursday was rescheduled to depart at 11 am on Friday.

The passengers were allegedly made to wait without proper air-conditioning, causing several flyers to faint.

A passenger, Shweta Punj, took to X: “If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is Air India. DGCA [aviation regulator] AI 183 flight has been delayed for over eight hours, passengers were made to board the plane without air-conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight. This is inhuman,”

Punj also tagged Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Responding to Punj’s post, Air India said: “Dear Ms. Punj, we truly regret to note the disruptions. Please rest assured that our team is actively working to address the delay and appreciates your ongoing support and understanding. We are also alerting our team to provide necessary assistance to the passengers.”

Last week, too, an Air India flight suffered an inordinate delay while passengers were made to wait without proper assistance.

The Air India flight from Mumbai to San Francisco was delayed for over 25 hours.

During this time, flyers had to sit inside the passenger cabin for around six hours with poor air conditioning.