Air India's Delhi-bound Flight Aborts Take Off From Kochi Due To Technical Snag, Congress MP On Board Says, 'Felt Like the Flight Skid on the Runway'

Kochi: An Air India flight bound from Kochi to New Delhi, AI 504, faced an unexpected delay in the wee hours of Monday morning. Scheduled to depart at 10:34 p.m. on Sunday night, the aircraft aborted takeoff, citing technical difficulties. It returned to the bay at the Kochi airport, and passengers were assured of a new time of takeoff. Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden was on the flight and first reported the delay. 
 

After hours of delay, the crew assured passengers that a new aircraft would depart for the route at 1 am on Monday. However, as per the MP on board, the flight had not taken off until 2 am. Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) account, he wrote, “Something unusual with this flight ✈️ AI 504, it just felt like the flight skid on the runway and hasn't taken off yet. Air India cancelled AI 504 and announced a new flight at 1 am which hasn't still started boarding, today is the third flight which has been AOG."

What caused the delay in Air India's AI504 Kochi to New Delhi flight? 

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) shared an official statement confirming that the delay was caused due to a technical issue. The statement read, “A technical issue caused an Air India flight bound to Delhi to abort the take-off. AI is rectifying it and informed CIAL that they are changing the aircraft. The expected new time of departure is 0100 hrs."

As per multiple publications, Air India spokesperson also confirmed that the takeoff of AI 504 was aborted due to a technical snag. As cited by other reports, the spokesperson said, The cockpit crew decided to discontinue the take-off run following standard operating procedures and brought the aircraft back to the bay for maintenance checks." The airline assured that the ground staff is assisting passengers while they wait at the airport.