Air India to issue a refund to those affected by flight diversion on June 6

Tata Group-owned Air India on Thursday announced that it will issue a full refund to all the passengers who were affected by the Delhi-San Francisco flight diversion.

According to media reports, the flight from New Delhi to San Francisco was diverted on June 6 owing to a mid-air glitch. 

The airline, media reports said, had told the passengers, who reached their destination after nearly 56 hours of departing from Delhi, "We will fully refund the fare for your journey and, in addition, provide you a voucher for future travel on Air India".

Air India's flight AI 173 operating Delhi-SFO on June 6, carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew on board, was diverted to the Magadan port city in far east Russia following a mid-air glitch in one of the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft engines.

On Wednesday, the airline dispatched a ferry flight to the Magadan port city to bring back the stranded passengers and crew from there to San Francisco. The replacement aircraft, which landed at Magadan at 06.14 am (local time) had got airborne at 1027 hours (local time) on June 8, for San Francisco, where it touched down at 12.07 am on June 8, the report added.

The airline expressed regret and also apologised to the passengers for the 'extended delay' in taking them to their destination.

Citing a statement from Air India, the report added, "The aircraft encountered a technical issue whereby the pilots received an indication of low oil pressure in one engine. Out of caution, they elected to land the aircraft at a nearby airport rather than continue the journey."

(With inputs from PTI)