NEW DELHI: Air India’s London-Kochi flight of Tuesday is being rerouted to Frankfurt after a baby was born on board the Boeing 787. The woman went into labour sometime after the plane took off from London at 1.21 pm (local time). A doctor who was on board and the flight’s cabin crew helped deliver the baby.
At that time, the aircraft was over the Black Sea en route to India. Since the newborn and the mother needed medical care, the airline decided to divert to the nearest airport, Frankfurt, and had turned in that direction. The aircraft was winging its way to Germany at the time of filing this story, an AI spokesperson confirmed.
Many AI employees see the birth of the baby just ahead of the announcement of the airline’s future buyer as a “good sign”. “We are awaiting the rebirth of our airline under the new owner… This is the beginning of new beginnings,” said a long-time AI employee.
The aircraft has over 210 people on board, including 193 economy and 11 business class passengers. The aircraft is expected to land in Frankfurt at 11pm IST. According to the rules, only the newborn, the mother, and a close relative like the husband, can alight at Frankfurt.
The others will fly to Kochi unless the flight requires a crew change due to flight duty time limitations. “We have always put passenger wellbeing over monetary aspects. The moment the baby was born, and knowing that our destination was several hours away, we immediately decided to divert to Frankfurt,” a source said.
“The human face of Air India was evident yet again as a lady passenger flying from London to Kochi went into labour mid-air. Our experienced cabin crew swung into action and, identifying doctors on board, sought their assistance. To ensure the wellbeing of the newborn, the flight is being diverted to Frankfurt as a medical emergency without any commercial considerations,” a source said.
