Yesterday, an Air India aircraft scheduled to fly from India to the United States diverted to Russia, creating a rather uncomfortable situation for many passengers (both literally and figuratively). I wanted to provide an update, as Air India has done a pretty good job with its “rescue” effort here…
Air India Boeing 777 diverts to Krasnoyarsk, Russia
This incident happened on Thursday, July 18, 2024, and involves Air India flight AI183, scheduled to fly from Delhi (DEL) to San Francisco (SFO). The flight was operated by a roughly 15-year-old Boeing 777-200LR with the registration code VT-ALG. At over 7,700 miles, this is one of the longer flights out there, and it ordinarily takes around 15 hours.
The flight departed Delhi on Thursday afternoon at 3:44PM local time, just a little behind schedule, with a total of 244 people onboard (225 passengers and 19 crew members). Air India uses Russian airspace (even on flights to the United States), so the aircraft started flying north, initially over Pakistan, then Tajikistan, then Kyrgyzstan, then Kazakstan, and then Russia.
However, while traveling over the northern part of Russia, the aircraft encountered a technical fault, and the crew made the decision to divert. A fire sensor in the cargo hold was reportedly activated, which prompted the diversion.
There aren’t many airports in northern Russia, so the aircraft had to fly south quite a bit to get to the nearest major airport. Roughly 6.5 hours after the flight departed Delhi, it landed at Krasnoyarsk International Airport in Russia (KJA), where it arrived shortly before 12AM local time. Fortunately upon landing, there were no signs of fire or smoke.
With the plane safely on the ground, it was determined that the same jet couldn’t continue the journey. As you’d expect, maintenance on Boeing aircraft isn’t exactly easy in Russia, given the embargo in place, and you don’t want to start a long flight with few diversion points with a faulty sensor.
As a result, the airline had to figure out the best course of action for getting stranded passengers out of Russia.
Air India sends rescue aircraft to complete mission
So, what was Air India’s rescue effort like? First of all, I have to give the airline credit for communicating publicly and transparently about what’s going on, including the rescue effort. The airline has provided several detailed updates about the progress, in a way you rarely see airlines do. So kudos to Air India for that.
Once Air India determined it couldn’t quickly fix the 777 on the ground in Russia, the airline made plans to send an additional aircraft and crew to Krasnoyarsk, to pick up passengers and crew, and carry them to San Francisco.
So at 12:18PM local time on Friday, July 19, 2024, an 11-year-old Air India Boeing 777-300ER with the registration code VT-AEQ took off from Mumbai (BOM), with flight number AI1179. This is one of Air India’s former Etihad 777s, featuring a better passenger experience than on the initial aircraft.
After a flight of roughly 5.5 hours, the jet touched down in Krasnoyarsk, at 7:48PM local time. That was roughly 20 hours after the initial jet landed there, so I’d say that’s pretty impressive when you consider the complicated logistics involved.
After just over two hours on the ground in Krasnoyarsk, the plane once again took off, bound for San Francisco. The jet is expected to land there at 8:42PM local time this evening, around 26 hours behind schedule.
Air India states that it has extra staff on hand in San Francisco to support passengers, whether it’s with medical care, ground transportation, or onward connections.
So, what was the time like on the ground for passengers in Russia? For better or worse, passengers were required to stay in the terminal. That’s obviously not great in terms of comfort, but perhaps more reassuring in terms of any Russian immigration concerns that people may have had.
The Indian embassy from Moscow also reportedly helped with the situation.
What can we take away from this situation?
As we all know, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has had quite the impact on international air travel. All kinds of countries have reciprocal airspace bans with Russia, including the United States. This only applies to US airlines, airlines codesharing with US airlines on a particular route, or select other airlines that have restrictions placed on them.
Foreign airlines are in some cases allowed to use Russian airspace, even when flying to or from the United States (assuming their own countries don’t have a similar ban). Air India is one of the airlines that has most benefited from using Russian airspace over the past couple of years, and this has given the airline a huge competitive advantage.
However, diversions like this create an unpleasant reality for many onboard, especially when you consider this is the second such diversion in just over a year. Last year, an Air India Boeing 777 operating exactly the same route also diverted to Russia. In that case, the plane diverted to an even more isolated airport, and they had to spend nearly 40 hours on the ground.
When you board a flight from India to the United States, you don’t expect that you’ll make an unscheduled stop in Russia. Now, in fairness, I don’t think there’s actually significant risk here for most. India and Russia have pretty good relations, so Russia doesn’t have any incentive to act unreasonably here.
That being said, I’d certainly think twice about taking a route like this if Russia would have any interest in getting their hands on you.
Bottom line
An Air India Boeing 777 scheduled to fly from Delhi to San Francisco was forced to divert due to a technical issue. Specifically, the plane diverted to Krasnoyarsk, Russia, given that Air India uses Russian airspace, including on flights to the United States.
The plane couldn’t be quickly fixed, so Air India sent a rescue aircraft the following day, which landed in Russia around 20 hours after the initial jet. After a couple of hours on the ground, the plane is now enroute to San Francisco, with both passengers and crew.
What do you make of this Air India diversion? Do these kinds of diversions give you pause with booking a flight that uses Russian airspace?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.