Kolkata: An Air India flight operating on the Vancouver-Kolkata-Delhi sector on Thursday returned to Kolkata shortly after take-off due to a medical emergency on board, an official said.
The flight AI 186 from Vancouver, with 162 passengers and crew on board, had landed in Kolkata for its scheduled “technical halt” and took off for Delhi later.
Due to the ongoing geopolitical events, including the closure of Pakistani airspace, have led AI to reroute some of its international flights and take a “technical halt” in Kolkata.
After being airborne for more than 25 minutes, the aircraft had to come back and made a precautionary landing, as a passenger became ill, an Air India official said.
It was diverted back to the NSCBI Airport here at 6.20 pm and it landed here after 7 pm, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said.
According to the Air India spokesperson, the passenger was not feeling well and therefore the aircraft came back so that the passenger could be provided with medical help.
The pilots of the aircraft sought doctors and an ambulance on arrival.
After deplaning the sick passenger, the aircraft again departed from Kolkata at 8.30 pm to go to Delhi, the Air India spokesperson said.