Air India Flight Diverted to Varanasi Due to Delhi Weather Disruptions

Varanasi, UP: An Air India flight journeying from Bali to Delhi found itself redirected to Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport due to inclement weather in Delhi, as per an official announcement on Wednesday.

The aircraft subsequently continued its journey to Delhi the same night after the temporary stay in Varanasi on Tuesday.

Puneet Gupta, Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi, stated that the Air India flight AI 2146 was rerouted because adverse weather over Delhi drastically diminished visibility, rendering it perilous for the plane to attempt a landing there.

"The flight, which had 187 passengers on board, landed safely at Varanasi airport," Gupta confirmed, ensuring that "all essential amenities were provided for passengers during the layover.

The aircraft was granted clearance to take off and subsequently headed back to Delhi later that night.

In a related incident, a separate flight from Delhi to Bali had to return to Delhi on Wednesday due to a volcanic eruption near the Bali airport, Air India reported.

The flight landed safely back in Delhi, and all passengers disembarked, according to a statement from Air India.

"Air India flight AI2145 on June 18 from Delhi to Bali was instructed to return to Delhi in light of reports of a volcanic eruption near Bali airport, prioritizing safety," the airline declared.

On Tuesday, the AI 2146 was meant to depart from Denpasar International Airport in Bali, Indonesia at 10:30 am (local time) with an expected arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport around 2.30 pm.

Tracking data from FlightRadar24 revealed the Airbus A321 touched down in Varanasi instead of Delhi around 3.50 pm. The diversion occurred as the flight neared the Delhi-UP border.

Air India has encountered consecutive cancellations and redirections following an incident where a London-bound flight operated by them crashed in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off on June 12, resulting in the loss of over 270 lives, including both onboard and ground casualties.

On Tuesday, seven international flights were canceled by Air India, pushing the total number of cancellations since the Ahmedabad crash to over 80.

Tuesday witnessed significant disruption at Delhi airport, with 14 flight diversions including six to Bhopal, three to Chandigarh, two to Amritsar, and one each to Ahmedabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 indicated over 400 flights experienced delays, and some flights were canceled on Tuesday.

Air India, in a post on X, communicated that due to the unfavorable weather in Delhi, "our flight operations are being affected with several diversions."

(Only the headline of this report may have been reworked by Editorji; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)