Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Air India on Tuesday cancelled its Ahmedabad-London Gatwick airline (AI 159) due to unavailability of Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, said an official at Ahmedabad airport.
The flight AI159 was originally scheduled to depart from London at 10pm on June 16 and arrive in Ahmedabad at 9:20am on June 17, but it departed at 11:16pm from London on June 16 and arrived in Ahmedabad at 1:24pm on June 17.
It was rescheduled to depart from Ahmedabad at 3pm but later it was cancelled, the official added.
“Flight AI159 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick has been cancelled today due to the unavailability of the aircraft, resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft, and not due to any technical snag as claimed,” spokesperson of Air India said.
We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and have made alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination. We are providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted by the passengers. Consequently, flight AI170 from London Gatwick to Amritsar of 17 June stands cancelled,” the official added.
The cancellation comes amid heightened scrutiny of Air India’s operations following the Ahmedabad crash, which involved a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, the same aircraft type as flight AI 159. The crash led to the deaths of 241 of the 242 people on board.
Air India will not operate flight number AI171 – the flight which crashed near Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday – anymore and it has has decided to replace it with flight number AI159, officials told HT.
The flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick will be re-numbered to AI 159. The return flight will also be changed to AI160,” the officials added.
“The idea behind changing the number of a flight is to avoid triggering trauma or bad memories,”, a former airline official said.
“It is also a way to disassociate the route from the tragedy in the minds of passengers and travellers,” he added.
