NEW DELHI — An Air India flight could not take off from India’s Delhi airport as a swarm of ants was found in the business class of the flight on Sept. 6. The Prince of Bhutan was a passenger on this flight.
“Immediately, the crew members informed the pilots about the swarm of ants on board, and later the pilots of the aircraft decided not to take off,” a source said on Sep. 6.
The Air India AI-111 flight was scheduled for London airport on time. Still, then business class passengers complained about ants in the business seat.
Later, the Air India flight was taken to the airport’s technical area for thorough screening. All 248 passengers were de-boarded.
“The flight was taken to the technical bay for checking. All passengers were de-boarded and taken to the terminal building,” Delhi Airport Aviation Security said.
All the passengers, including the Prince of Bhutan, were forced to wait for over two hours at the International Terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport. All passengers were finally allowed to board the plane after going through immigration and security checks again.
“Due to a technical issue, the aircraft was changed and has already left,” an Air India official said.
This is not the only incident this year wherein animals were spotted in an Air India flight.
This year in May, the Air India flight that had taken off from Delhi airport returned after the pilot reported a bat to Air Traffic Control.
The Air India flight left Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2.20 am as scheduled. Around 30 minutes later, the cabin crew spotted the bat, and the captain reported the incident to Indian Air Traffic Control (ATC).
“AI-105 DEL-EWR returned to base (Delhi) after departure due to this local standby emergency was declared,” a source said.
“On arrival, it was learned that a bat was seen inside the cabin by crew members. Wildlife staff was called to catch and remove the bat from the cabin. The aircraft landed safely at around 3:55 am. Later flight was declared Aircraft on Grounded (AoG).”
The passengers were shifted to another plane, and Air India flight AI-105 landed in Newark at 11:35 am local time.
“Air India B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI-105 (Delhi-Newark) was involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by the crew after departure,” a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official had said.
“Fuel was jettisoned, and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After landing, fumigation was carried out, and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from seat 8DEF area.”
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Praveen Pramod Tewari
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