Vistara sends new aircraft for passengers stuck in Turkey
September 07, 2024 10:30Vistara on Saturday said it
is dispatching an alternative aircraft along with a fresh set of crew to
fly the passengers of its Mumbai-Frankfurt flight to their destination
after it was diverted to Erzurum Airport in Turkey due to an alleged
bomb threat on Friday.
The substitute aircraft is expected to arrive at
the Turkish airport by 12.25 (local time) and depart for Frankfurt with
all passengers by 14.30 hours (Local time), Vistara said in an updated
statement of X (formerly Twitter).
The flight UK 27, operating on
Mumbai-Frankfurt route, departed from Mumbai at 1.01 pm on Friday after a
delay of an hour and was scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt (Germany) at
5.30 pm (local time).
The Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft was, however,
diverted to Turkey after the airline's crew on-board found a paper note
stating that there was a bomb on the aircraft, Vistara sources had said.
According to an AP report, the aircraft had 247 passengers and crew on
board.
The flight landed safely at Erzurum Airport at 1905 (local
time) on Friday, the airline had said.
'Since the crew have exceeded
their duty time limitation, we are sending an alternate aircraft, with a
fresh set of crew, to Erzurum Airport, Turkey, which is expected to
arrive there by 1225 hours (local time) and depart for Frankfurt, with
all customers, by 1430 hours(local time),' Vistara said in its updated
statement.
It said that all the necessary checks have been conducted
and the customers, along with the crew and aircraft, have been cleared
by the security agencies.
In the meantime, all efforts are being made
to minimise inconvenience to customers, including offering them
refreshments and meals, Vistara said in the statement.
On Friday the
airline had said its Flight UK27 from Mumbai to Frankfurt, 'has been
diverted to Turkey (Erzurum airport) due to security reasons and has
landed safely at 1905 hours', without divulging the number of passengers
and crew on board the aircraft. -- PTI