‘Lot of chaos’: Air India flight 159 from Ahmedabad to London cancelled due to operational issues

Air India's flight to London, scheduled to depart from Ahmedabad on Tuesday afternoon, was cancelled due to "operational issues", officials said.

Air India's official website confirms that the AI-159 flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick airport in London has been cancelled. The plane was scheduled to depart at 3 pm from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.

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“We have been informed that the flight has been cancelled due to operational issues. The original flight from Ahmedabad to London, having code AI-171, resumed operation from Monday with a new flight code AI-159,” said the airport official.

An AI-159 flight passenger told ANI, “I was going to Gatwick, London, by the 1 pm Air India flight, but I have just learned that the flight has been cancelled. The crew members could not give any reason for the flight cancellation or details on a fare refund.”

A relative of an AI-159 passenger says, “We have been told that today's flight has been cancelled and it will depart at 1100 hours tomorrow. All passengers here are troubled.”

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Another passenger said, “We could have had more clarity in terms of when is our next flight and all that. But there was a lot of chaos…After a couple of hours, they said that they are not able to fix, so we are going to deplane. That is all that happened...These technical snags happen, it is part of flying. I have travelled international many times and I have seen this in multiple airlines. This is not an Air India thing, it's a technical snag. I had booked my ticket 2-3 weeks ago...My next flight is at 7 pm today…”

The official did not elaborate on "operational issues" that caused the flight cancellation. Flight AI-171, which crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12, has been replaced with a new code, AI-159. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew members on board the flight AI-171 were killed in the crash.

(With inputs from agencies)