Rajkot: In a strange incident of flight cancellation at Rajkot airport, the Air India flight AI 404 which was supposed to fly for Delhi from Rajkot at 8 pm was cancelled as the chief pilot of this flight refused to fly as his duty hours were over.

The chief pilot refused to take the flight with over 100 passengers including Lok Sabha member from Rajkot Mohanbhai Kundaria, from Jamnagar Poonambane Madam and Rajya Sabha member – elected from Gujarat Kesridev Singh aboard.

The passengers were kept on board for three hours and many attempts were made to convince the pilot locally and even from Delhi, but the pilot was not ready to budge and finally the flight had to be cancelled. The flight may fly now today when pilot’s duty hours resume.

Rajkot MP Mohanbhai Kundaria said, for hours we were waiting for the flight to Delhi to take off. But the pilot of this flight was not ready to fly as his working hours were over. The Rajkot-Delhi flight was eventually declared canceled after three hours long efforts to convince the pilot.

Lok Sabha MP Poonamben Madam choose to go back to Jamnagar and fly to Delhi from there, while Mohanbhai Kundariya dropped his trip until the next flight from Rajkot. Rajya Sabha member – elected Kesridevsinh Jhala choose to travel to Ahmedabad to catch flight to Delhi.

Meanwhile, Air India Spokesperson has stated: AI404 operating between Rajkot and Delhi late evening on 23rd July 2023 was delayed due to operational reasons. Subsequently, the cockpit crew came under Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) regulations for which they could not operate the flight as per regulatory norms. FDTL regulation is nonnegotiable and cannot be compromised due to flight safety reasons. However, a few passengers who had to reach Delhi on an urgent basis were transported by road to Ahmedabad to take an Air India or codeshare flight to Delhi. The remaining passengers were offered hotel accommodation with all meals and their bookings were rescheduled as per their desire including a full refund against cancellation. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to passengers.  DeshGujarat