Bird-hit Air India flight cancelled; Passengers board another flight to Delhi

When being stuck here the day before after an Air India flight with a destination of Delhi was forced to land at Kannur International Airport because of a bird strike, the passengers finally made it to Delhi on Tuesday aboard a different airliner.

The Kozhikode-bound flight with 135 passengers first touched down in Kannur before continuing on to Delhi.

The airport SHO informed PTI that a Delhi-bound Air India flight from Bengaluru was diverted through Kannur to pick up the 61 stranded passengers.

The officer claimed that because the bird-damaged aircraft was still undergoing fitness tests and the airline did not want to further postpone the passengers’ travel plans, they were sent on the flight out of Bengaluru.
Air India also left the possibility of scheduling a trip from Bengaluru to Delhi through Kannur open while the bird-damaged aircraft was undergoing repairs, the officer said.

An Air India representative had earlier in the day stated that they intended to transport the passengers to Delhi using the same bird-damaged aircraft after it had been fixed and given the all-clear to fly.

He added that out of the entire 135 passengers, some had changed their travel plans and boarded an Indigo aircraft, while others had cancelled their tickets, leaving about 85 passengers to be housed in hotels in Kannur.
’24 of the 85 passengers were travelling abroad, and they were transported yesterday and this morning by Air India Express to their separate destinations of Dubai and Bahrain. 61 domestic passengers are now on board, and after the plane is fixed, they will be flown to Delhi on the same aircraft’ As of this morning, the official added.

Seven experts from Delhi arrived here, according to the source, and are currently inspecting and repairing the aircraft’s engines, which still included bird fragments from when it was struck.

If everything goes according to plan, the flight is tentatively scheduled to depart at 1.30 PM. After the repair work is finished, they will perform engine run-ups to determine if the aircraft was flight worthy.