Amritsar, September 26: Rat! It’s that creature again that held up a London-bound Air India flight by nearly 11 hours from the Rajasansi airport here Saturday.
Flight AI-187, which was scheduled to depart at 6.30 a.m. Saturday, finally left for London around 5.26 p.m. after Air India provided a new aircraft.
There were 238 passengers on the flight.
“The flight finally left at 5.26 p.m. today. Air India provided a new aircraft to take the passengers to London,” Air India manager Ashwini Kumar Arora told IANS.
However, passengers were angry at the delay and said the airline ground staff did little to lessen their hardship.
“Our flight was for nearly 10 hours. We have wasted the entire day here and now we will land in London very early in the morning. What is the upkeep of the Air India staff?” one passenger said.
The aircraft, in which the rat was detected early Saturday morning by passengers, was searched throughout the day. Air India officials said the aircraft would be allowed to fly only after the rodent is found and all security checks are performed on the plane.
“A rat entered the aircraft and the staff was searching for it. The flight was delayed by several hours,” airport director Chinson Panakal told IANS.
Airport officials said some passengers noticed the rodent in the plane and informed the staff. The passengers were taken off the plane and then waited for hours at the airport for Air India to make alternate arrangements.
Some passengers said they were being needlessly harassed due to negligence of the airline staff and inadequate arrangements.
“It was not only the question of finding the rat. The aircraft (in which the rat was seen) will have to undergo all security checks under the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) guidelines. That will take a long time,” Arora added.