After 13-hour delay, 225 passengers of AI's London-Mumbai flight return via Budapest

The 225 passengers of Air India's city-bound flight from London, which was diverted to Budapest after an engine malfunction, returned today, after a delay of over 13 hours.

The national carrier's London-Mumbai flight AI-130 departs from Heathrow airport at 1330 hours (local time) and arrives at the airport here at 0400 hours. The flight AI-130-D arrived here from Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Budapest at 1702 hours with all 225 passengers, an Air India spokesperson said.

The London flight, which took off from Heathrow Airport at its scheduled time of 1330 hours (1900 hours Indian time) was diverted to the Hungarian capital after one of the aircraft's engine reported a malfunction.

The plane, a Boeing 787-800 with all the passengers on board, however, landed safely at the Budapest airport at 1752 hours (local time), the airline had said. Instead of operating a separate plane to bring back the stranded passengers, Air India operated its Frankfurt-Delhi and Paris-Delhi flight to Budapest, the spokesperson said, adding, "The two flights were combined into one, which operated to Delhi, and the second aircraft carried the London flights passengers to their destination, Mumbai, which we operated as AI-130-D."

While the Paris-Delhi flight from Budapest, which also had the passengers of Frankfurt, landed in New Delhi at around 1540 hours today, the Budapest-Mumbai flight landed at the Chhatarapati Shivaji International Airport here at 1702 hours, the spokesperson said.