Pilot missing on Air India flight, passengers inside aircraft wait for 2 hrs

New Delhi: More than 100 passengers on board a Delhi to Pune Air India flight were made to wait for nearly two hours inside the aircraft allegedly due to the absence of the pilot.

But sources of the flag carrier attributed the delay to operational issues.

Flight AI853, was originally scheduled for departure from Delhi at 7.10 p.m., on Monday, with an intended arrival time in Pune at 9:10 p.m.

Nonetheless, accounts from both passengers and Flightradar24 data indicate that the plane took off from Delhi at around 9 p.m. and landed in Pune at around 11 p.m.

The same Delhi-Pune flight experienced another delay on Tuesday. However, on this occasion, passengers waited in the airport terminal building.