Air India, known for its inability to keep their planes in top shape, has had a new incident at London which has predictably left passengers miffed with the airline and has had two flights delayed getting out of London, one for over 48 hours.

The delay started on May 28, 2019, when the Air India flight AI130, scheduled to depart London at 1:15 PM in the afternoon, did not take off per schedule. The aircraft had about 293 passengers booked, who spent a night at the hotel, while they did not receive any information from Air India about what caused the delay.

Air India later told them that the aircraft was grounded, and was expected to depart on May 29, 2019, by 10 PM. Air India used to fly a Boeing 787-8 on this sector, but has now upgauged it to a Boeing 77W to meet the shortage of flights between Mumbai and London on account of Jet Airways stopping flights to London. This particular flight seems to have had a fuel leak.

But why did it take so long? Because Air India did not seek local help to fix the issues on the plane, but rather flew in engineers and parts from Mumbai. Not just that, the Air India flight from Mumbai on board which these engineers were, was itself delayed. AI131 departs from Mumbai usually at 6:30 AM and arrives into London Heathrow at 11:30 AM. But on May 29, 2019, they took off from Mumbai at 2:12 PM and arrived into London Heathrow about 6:30 PM.

As per passengers on board, Air India did not endorse passengers on to any other airline as well, in spite of family emergencies or whatever other circumstances they may have been through. They either offered to make refunds or forced passengers to wait till they don’t have a plane ready for them. Remember, with Jet Airways out of the picture, and this being World Cup in England, tickets between London and India are already running sky high.

But not just that, on May 29 as well, the same flight was delayed by 9 hours, on account of a delay from Mumbai. And now, this seems to be an everyday affair, looking at the rotation from Mumbai.