Indian passengers face nightmare as Gulf Air fights gets diverted at Kuwait airport

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 1: Indian passengers flying from Mumbai to Manchester who have been stuck at Kuwait airport for 13 hours have complained of severe problems including not getting "food or help". Their ordeal started after their flight made an emergency landing following an engine fire incident.

The Indian embassy in Kuwait in a post on X said they immediately took up the matter with Gulf Air.

A chaotic video surfaced on social media showing the passengers of Gulf Air arguing with the airport authorities.

The passengers alleged they were harassed and only flyers from the European Union, the UK and the US were given accommodation by the airline. They alleged bias and harassment against those holding Indian, Pakistani and other Southeast Asian nation passports.

The Indian embassy in Kuwait in the post on X said a team from the embassy is at the airport to assist the passengers and coordinate with the airline, adding passengers have been accommodated in two airport lounges.

Passengers said their flight took a U-turn before it landed in Kuwait. They said the announcement of the flight diversion came 20 minutes before landing.

Gulf Air has not given a statement on the matter yet.

The flight was on its way from Bahrain to Manchester, after coming from Mumbai, and it was flying for nearly two hours when suddenly everyone was told to prepare for emergency landing, the passenger said.

Air India Flight From Paris Diverted To Jaipur, Fliers Sent To Delhi On Bus

NEW DELHI, Nov 19: The diversion of a Paris-New Delhi Air India flight to Jaipur and the pilots' refusal to fly further after completing their duty hours sparked chaos on Monday as several passengers were left stranded for many hours and ultimately sent to the national capital by road.

There was no official statement from Air India but sources said the airline did not arrange an alternative flight as doing so would have taken longer than sending the passengers to Delhi on a bus.

AI-2022, which took off from Paris at 10 pm on Sunday, was scheduled to reach Delhi at 10.35am on Monday. The flight, however, was diverted to Jaipur on Monday morning because of smog in the national capital since the pilots were not qualified to make low-visibility landings, the sources said.

At the Jaipur airport, as the flight waited for clearance to resume its journey to Delhi, the pilots refused to continue flying, citing completion of duty hours. The Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules framed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation mandate that the flight crew get enough rest and prevent fatigue-related safety issues.

The stranded passengers, whose journey to Delhi was already delayed by several hours, demanded an alternate flight and slammed the "pathetic management" by the airline.

"Shameful and pathetic management from @airindia today as flight #AI2022 from CDG-DEL diverted to JAI. Pax stranded at JAI asked to spend 5 hrs inside the aircraft and then to take a bus from JAI to DEL. My wife and two months old is suffering and I am helpless," Vishal P, an X user, posted on the micro-blogging platform.

Another user, Giridhara Upadhayaya, wrote on X: "@airindia is not helping passengers from Paris to Bengaluru stranded in Jaipur since 12 noon.there is a mother with 2 months baby and they are not in the mood to assist. Very inhuman staff...(sic)"

Sources said that, amid growing protests, the passengers were ultimately sent to Delhi on a bus.

"Arranging an alternate flight would have taken more time than sending the passengers on a bus," a source said.

Air India Fliers Stuck For 3 Days In Phuket After Emergency Landing

PHUKET, Nov 19: Over 100 New Delhi-bound passengers of an Air India flight have been stranded in Thailand's Phuket for over 80 hours now after several delays due to technical faults, according to multiple posts put out by passengers on social media.

According to the passengers, the flight was scheduled to take off for Delhi on the night of November 16. But the airline's representatives informed the passengers of a six-hour delay due to a technical fault. The passengers allege that after being made to wait for hours at the airport, they were asked to board the plane, only to be deboarded an hour later. The flight was cancelled.

Air India, while regretting the inconvenience to passengers, said the November 16 flight was "cancelled due to a technical issue". The airline insisted that the staff on the ground made efforts to minimise passengers' inconvenience, providing all on-ground assistance including hotel accommodations and meals.

"Some of the guests were also accommodated on alternatively available flights. Passengers were also offered options for full refunds on cancellation and complimentary rescheduling. At Air India, the safety and security of our passengers and crew is a top priority," it added.

The passengers included elderly and children. The next the plane was prepped for a flight. The passengers say they were told that it was the same plane, but the fault had been fixed. The plane took off and about two-and-a-half hours after take-off, it landed back at Phuket and the passengers were again told that there was a technical fault. Since then, the passengers have been stuck at Phuket.

The plane's trajectory, as captured by tracking app FlightRadar, shows its two-hour flight before it returned to Phhuket.

Social media posts allege that passengers are not getting any satisfactory response from airline representatives.

Earlier, the airline source said, "Several passengers have been sent back. About 40 are still in Phuket, they would be sent back this evening."

'US To India In 30 Minutes?' Elon Musk Discusses Future Of Ultra-Fast Travel

NEW YORK, Nov 16: After Donald Trump was re-elected as the US President, billionaire Elon Musk, who is now set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy, announced that SpaceX's ambitious "Earth-to-Earth" space travel project would soon come to reality.

SpaceX's Starship rocket, which was first proposed almost ten years ago and is said to be the most powerful in the world, would enable intercontinental travel at previously unprecedented speeds.

According to a report by the Daily Mail, the Starship could transport up to 1,000 passengers per trip, flying in orbit parallel to Earth's surface rather than venturing into deep space. Projected travel times are groundbreaking: Los Angeles to Toronto in 24 minutes, London to New York in 29 minutes, Delhi to San Francisco in 30 minutes, and New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes.

The concept has recently gained momentum on social media, with user @ajtourville sharing a promotional video of the project on X (formerly Twitter).

The post speculated that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) might greenlight the initiative under a potential second Trump administration.

Elon Musk reacted to this post and wrote, "This is now possible."

As public interest grows, Musk's vision of ultra-fast travel could redefine global connectivity, making it possible to cross continents in minutes.

Ammunition cartridge found on Air India Dubai-Delhi flight, probe initiated

NEW DELHI, Nov 2: The Delhi Police are investigating a case of security breach after a live cartridge was found in a pocket seat of an Air India flight landing from Dubai recently, according to reports.

A police officer said that an Air India staff found the live round of ammunition during routine cleaning on a flight on October 27. A first information report (FIR) was registered under the Arms Act and probe has been initiated.

“One ammunition cartridge was found in the pocket of a seat of our flight AI916 after it had landed from Dubai at Delhi on October 27, and all passengers had safely disembarked,” an Air India spokesperson said in a statement.

"A complaint was immediately lodged with the Airport Police by Air India strictly adhering to the laid down security protocols," the statement read.

The recovery of live round of ammunition comes amid several airlines receiving hoax bomb threats. According to a report, more than 510 domestic and international flights have received bomb threats that later turned out to be hoaxes in the past two weeks.

The pseudonymous or anonymous nature of the social media handle, analysis of the geopolitical situation and presence of VIPs onboard are some of the new criteria that agencies will keep in mind while considering the seriousness of a bomb threat made to Indian airlines.

The new set of guidelines for civil aviation security and intelligence agencies have been issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS) in view of the "evolving security challenges", especially the "emerging trend" of issuing hoax bomb threats through various social media platforms.

A Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) is convened at a designated airport to analyse a bomb or security threat issued against an airline, airport or any part of the aviation ecosystem that decides to declare it "specific" or serious or "non-specific" or hoax.

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