Air India to Operate Relief Flight for Passengers Stranded in Mongolia

November 4, 2025

New Delhi: Air India on Tuesday said it will operate a relief flight to ferry the passengers of the San Francisco-Delhi flight that was diverted to Mongolia due to a suspected technical issue.

Air India flight AI174, operating from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata on November 2, made a precautionary landing at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after the flight crew suspected a technical issue en route.

“Air India will be operating a relief flight to ferry the passengers of flight AI174 (San Francisco-Delhi of 02 November), which was diverted to Ulaanbaatar on Monday. The ferry flight AI183 is scheduled to depart Delhi this afternoon and return with the affected passengers on Wednesday morning,” the airline said in a statement.

Passengers Provided Assistance and Accommodation

The airline said that, in coordination with local authorities and the Indian Embassy in Mongolia, arrangements were made to look after passengers and crew, including hotel accommodation.

“Guests have been kept informed about the arrangements being made to fly them to Delhi. At Air India, the safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew remain top priority,” an Air India spokesperson said.

Earlier, the airline confirmed that the aircraft had landed safely at Ulaanbaatar and was undergoing technical checks.

DGCA Grants Temporary Extension for Boeing 787 Crew Duty Hours

Meanwhile, Air India has been granted a temporary extension of flight duty time limits for two-pilot Boeing 787 Dreamliner operations on European routes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said last week.

The extension was approved due to longer flight paths necessitated by the closure of Pakistani airspace.

For these operations, the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) has been increased from 10 hours to 10 hours and 30 minutes, while the Flight Duty Period (FDP) has been extended from 13 hours to 14 hours, the DGCA noted.