250 passengers were left frustrated at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport in the city on Thursday afternoon after Air India’s flight AI 171 to London was abruptly cancelled. Airline sources attributed the cancellation to a technical issue. Passengers, who had arrived early and completed the check-in process, were left outraged and confused by the sudden cancellation, with many remaining at the airport until evening before returning home.
Scheduled to depart from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:40 pm, passengers of the flight arrived three hours early for immigration and security checks. At 1:10 pm, the airline announced a delay, first pushing the departure to 3 pm, then to 4 pm. This series of delays left passengers exhausted and frustrated. Airline staff cited a technical fault as the reason for the delays. Eventually, the flight was cancelled. Many passengers had completed the immigration process, but after the cancellation, they had to stand in queues again to clear immigration and retrieve their luggage.
The cancellation of the Ahmedabad-London flight also disrupted the schedules of other flights. Three flights to Dubai, including two by SpiceJet and one by Emirates Airline, were delayed by one to five hours. Additionally, domestic flights from Ahmedabad to Varanasi, Ayodhya, Udaipur, Nanded, and Delhi experienced delays and disrupted schedules.
Meanwhile, an IndiGo flight that left Kolkata at five o’clock on Thursday to reach Ahmedabad was cruising at 25,000 feet when a passenger suddenly fell ill. As a safety precaution, the pilot was forced to divert to Bhopal airport for a medical emergency landing.