Air India on Thursday said it would refund the full amount to all passengers of the June 6 Delhi-San Francisco flight that made an emergency landing in the remote Russian town of Magadan, a key transit point to a Gulag, after developing an engine snag.
The Tata-owned airline apologised to the passengers and said their safety was “the highest priority throughout”.
The Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members made an emergency landing at the Magadan airport after one of its engines developed a snag. The passengers were put up in makeshift accommodations. A replacement Air India flight carrying the stranded passengers touched down at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday, nearly 56 hours after they had left Delhi.
“Please allow me to sincerely apologise, on behalf of Air India, for the extended delay in bringing you to San Francisco,” Rajesh Dogra, Air India’s chief customer experience and ground handling officer, told the passengers in a communication.
“Your safety was the highest priority throughout. As such, we will fully refund the fare of your journey and, in addition, provide you a voucher for future travel in Air India. Although we cannot change the past, I trust this gesture conveys our sincere regrets for the disruption and inconvenience,” he said.
On Wednesday, Air India dispatched a ferry flight to Magadan from Mumbai to fly the stranded passengers and crew from there to San Francisco. The replacement aircraft, which landed at Magadan at 6.14am (local time), got airborne at 10.27am (local time) on June 8 for San Francisco, where it touched down at 12.07am local time.
“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,” Air India said.
Maintaining that “while the facilities in Magadan, a small city, may not have met the standard we wouldnormally aim to provide, we are grateful for your tolerance and understanding that our local agents and crew did their best under the circumstances”.
After initially stating that the passengers and crew were accommodated “in hotels locally”, Air India later said “infrastructure constraints” had forced it to lodge them in makeshift accommodations.
Air India said that though it dispatched a relief flight at the earliest possible opportunity given the need to obtain insurance and flight plan approvals, the duration of delay was “long”, and the “experience was not what we aspire to offer”.