Air India's San Francisco Flight Lands In Siberia: Why Plane Diversions To Russia Are A Pain

(MENAFN- Live Mint) On Thursday, Air India flight AI183 from Delhi to San Francisco diverted to Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA) in Russia after the cockpit crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area. The aircraft landed safely at Krasnoyarsk with all 225 passengers and 19 members of the flight crew safe and sound. The airline's website was showing a revised departure time to San Francisco from the Siberian city. However, the flight never took off.

Instead, the airline informed that it is in liaison with government agencies and regulatory authorities to arrange a ferry flight to Krasnoyarsk, which will fly onwards to San Francisco. This ferry flight may also ferry engineers who would work on the grounded aircraft (VT-ALG) and help retrieve it back to India.

Also Read: Air India latest update: Relief flight arranged for Delhi-San Francisco passengers after precautionary landing in Russi

The airport's Telegram channel stated that a replacement aircraft was scheduled to arrive at 1615 hours local time and depart from San Francisco at 1815 hours local time. The crew (19 members) have been accommodated in hotels while passengers have been provided with food and drinks in the international departures lounge area.

This is the second time in 13 months that Air India has had to divert to a Russian airport with the last being at Magadan in June 2023, a much smaller town than Krasnoyarsk.

A diversion is not an abnormal phenomenon in aviation. Flights, across airlines, regions and aircraft types, divert every day for reasons ranging from medical emergency onboard, technical issues, weather at destination, airport closures or threats. Most airlines have a laid out procedure to handle diversions and disruptions to schedule. This involves working with local ground handling agencies to handle the passengers and refuelling companies for the availability of Aviation Turbine Fuel in cases where the airline does not have its own operations. The commander of the aircraft is authorised to take decisions with respect to spending, which is higher for a one-off occasion than it is for a long-term scheduled service.

Additionally, accommodation of passengers outside the terminal is at the will of the local authorities since this is linked to visa and entry permit, amongst other things. Countries in the EU are relatively strict and that has been seen in the past with both Air India and other carriers flying non-stop to India.

Since the Russia-Ukraine war started in early 2022, there have been embargoes on Russia across multiple domains including aviation. Western carriers do not overfly Russian airspace while a handful of carriers like Air India, Emirates, and Turkish continue to overfly Russia, which is a shorter and more economical path for intercontinental flights.

The challenge comes up when there is a diversion and because of the sanctions. A relief flight, which could well be the next available aircraft to fly out can be challenging in cases like these because of the sanctions. The lessor would have to agree to this, which involves paperwork and at the same time the insurance providers would also have to agree to this - which again involves paperwork. This is done to ensure that the insurers or lessors do not violate the sanctions, which could jeopardise their business.

Also Read: Delhi-San Francisco Air India flight update: Customers complain of poor service: 'We have no food or any information'

Air India may be privatised but the airline, like all others, works in close coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs in such cases which requires coordination with missions abroad to seek help, speed up clearances and additionally provide necessary help where needed.

Krasnoyarsk does not have an Indian consulate, even though India has a large diplomatic presence in Russia. The government also formally and informally steps in to help with clearances, be it with lessors or local authorities.

Why is the crew accommodated but not the passengers?

The operating crew have a General Declaration which takes care of entry and exit while on duty. This is a standard practice followed globally, except in a few countries. This allows the crew to enter the country without a valid visa, unlike the passengers. In cases of Irregular Operations, there remains an uncertainty on when the next departure will take place and if the same crew will operate. To ensure that they maintain the minimum rest requirements of the regulator, the crew is typically the first to be provided with accommodation.

For the passengers, it requires diplomatic efforts which include checking the nationalities on board and the decision by the host country (in this case, Russia) on how they want to handle these cases. A flight bound for San Francisco is sure to have more nationalities than just Indian and Russia's relations with the world are not at its best right now. Krasnoyarsk, though, has better facilities than Magadam, where passengers were accommodated in local schools.

The last incident surely seems to have been a learning for Air India. It took two days last time around to position the aircraft to Russia. All signs now are that it could be done in a day.

If there is one area where the airline needs to improve is communication. There is nothing like over-communication in such situations when passengers, relatives, the common public and the media try to get their hands on every possible information for their own reasons. This has the potential to start rumours or circulate unverified information. In this case, what the airport shared could very well have been the airline sharing.

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