A few small cockroaches were found on an Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai, the airline said in a statement. It added that the small cockroaches were first noticed by two passengers on board
the flight, which had a halt in Kolkata.
The two passengers were then moved to different seats, and the aircraft was deeply cleaned during its layover in Kolkata.
“On flight AI180 from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata, two passengers were unfortunately bothered by the presence of a few small cockroaches on board,” an Air India spokesperson said.
“Our cabin crew, therefore, relocated the two passengers to other seats in the same cabin, where they were comfortable thereafter,” the spokesperson added.
“During the flight’s scheduled fuel stop in Kolkata, our ground crew promptly conducted a deep cleaning process to address the issue. The same aircraft subsequently departed in time for Mumbai,” it added.
“Despite our regular fumigation efforts, insects can sometimes enter an aircraft during ground operations,” the statement mentioned.
In another incident, Air India’s flight AI349, which was scheduled to operate from Singapore to Chennai on August 3, was cancelled due to a “maintenance task identified prior to departure, which required additional time for rectification”, the airline said in a statement.
Making “every possible effort to minimise the inconvenience” caused to the passengers due to this unforeseen disruption, it said.
Arrangements were made to fly the passengers to Chennai at the earliest, it said.
Earlier the same day, passengers scheduled to fly from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi on Air India’s flight AI500 faced unexpected disruptions as the airline cancelled the service due to a technical issue.
The airline cited abnormal cabin temperatures on the ground as the reason behind the cancellation.
In an official statement, an Air India spokesperson said, “Flight AI500 scheduled to operate from Bhubaneswar to Delhi on August 3 has been cancelled due to a technical issue causing high cabin temperature on the ground prior to the departure.”
“Our airport team in Bhubaneswar is assisting the impacted passengers with alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination, Delhi,” the spokesperson said.
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