An Air India B777-200ER aircraft bound for San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was required to divert to Russia due to a “potential issue” in the cargo hold area.
The incident occurred on July 18, 2024. Flight AI 183 departed Delhi International Airport (DEL) at around 15:44 local time.
According to Air India, the flight’s cockpit crew detected the potential issue in the cargo hold, whereupon a decision was made to make a precautionary landing at Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA) in Russia.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the airline explained that, since it does not have its own staff at Krasnoyarsk Airport, it dealt with a third party which could assist its passengers, including overnight arrangements.
The airline arranged a ferry (or rescue) flight the following day on June 19, 2024. The ferry flight, AI 1179, was operated by a B777-300ER.
Air India posted a video of AI 1179 taking off from Delhi to Krasnoyarsk.
At the time of writing, the airline has provided an update that AI 1179 is now on its way to KJA Airport, and is expected to arrive at 20:00 local time.
An Air India team, including crew and security personnel, are on board the flight to provide any support that the passengers and staff at KJA may require, the airline said.
“The ferry flight is carrying essentials in addition to a sufficient amount of food for all passengers. The aircraft will ferry all passengers and crew out of KJA at the earliest,” Air India said in its latest update.
