Air India Relief Flight With Passengers Stranded in Russia Lands in San Francisco

New Delhi: The relief flight that Air India operated, to fly its stranded passengers from Russia, has landed in San Francisco. 

The airline informed the same in a statement on the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter). 

Air India Relief Flight Lands in San Francisco

Air India on Friday operated a ferry flight from here to fly its Delhi-San Francisco flight passengers, who were stranded at the Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA) in Russia since Thursday.

The flight has safely landed in San Francisco with all its passengers and crew members.

Air India Issues Statement, Thanks All Partners for Support

In a post on X, Air India said, “We thank the DGCA, Government of India, Embassy of India in Russia, the Russian authorities, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Krasnoyarsk International Airport, and all partners involved, for their support in the situation.”

Statement by Indian Embassy in Moscow

As soon as the flight took off, the Indian Embassy in Moscow also issued a statement.

The statement read, “Air India Rescue Flight AI 1179 with passengers of AI-183 took off from Krasnoyarsk for San Francisco. The Embassy of India, Moscow, thanks the Foreign Ministry of Russia and its Representative Office in Krasnoyarsk, the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport, the Krasnoyarsk Krai Government, airport authorities, and security officials for their assistance to the passengers and to the Embassy's team in the coordination work throughout the emergency situation.”

Why Was Air India Flight Diverted?

The airline had to divert its Delhi-San Francisco flight with 225 passengers and 19 crew members to the Russian city on Thursday after the cockpit crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area of the Boeing 777 aircraft.

After the flight made a precautionary landing at KJA, Air India said its local support was activated to assist passengers, who were required by authorities to remain in the terminal building in the absence of Russian visas.

(Inputs from PTI)