Two Air India Boeing 777 aircraft are grounded in Russia and San Francisco in the US disrupting the carrier’s long haul flights.

While a Boeing 777 aircraft operating on Delhi - San Francisco route ( flight no AI 183) diverted to Krasnoyarsk airport in Russia due to suspected fire in cargo hold on Thursday night, another plane bound for Delhi returned to San Francisco on Wednesday morning local time after about four hours of flying due to choked toilets.

The aircraft remains grounded in San Francisco. Luckily, a team of five aircraft engineers that was being sent to rectify the choked toilets were flying on the aircraft that diverted to Russia.

“There were no certified engineers available in the Russian town who could inspect and release the grounded aircraft back to India,” said an Air India source. Since pilots activated fire extinguishers in cargo hold, the diverted aircraft can’t carry any luggage or cargo and has to return to India, another official said.

“We have a second team of engineers on stand by who are ready to travel to San Francisco,” said Sharad Agarwal, CEO of AI Engineering Services Ltd.

Air India did not immediately respond to email query. It operates 17 weekly flights to San Francisco from Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai. Passengers impacted by cancellations are being offered waivers.

In an update on the diversion on Friday morning, the airline said Air India’s local support was activated to assist passengers, who were required by authorities to remain in the terminal building in the absence of Russian visas.

Food and beverage amenities at the terminal, which were closed for the evening, have now opened and meals are being provided to all passengers, it said.

“Representatives from the Indian consulate in Moscow have travelled overnight and are working with Russian authorities to allow passengers to move to hotels, which have been on standby throughout the night, “ the airline said.

A ferry aircraft with crew and security team is being readied and expected to take off for Krasnoyarsk in afternoon. This aircraft will carry stranded passengers onward to the US. However a Mumbai-London departure of Friday morning has been delayed as an aircraft had to pulled out to operate the ferry flight.

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