NEW DELHI: An Air India flight landed in Kabul on Sunday afternoon to fly out Indians stranded there. The Airbus A320 (VT-EXV) took off from Delhi at 12.43 pm and landed there two hours later at 1.45 pm (Kabul time).
The flight to Kabul had 40 passengers and it will return to Delhi with a full load of 162 passengers, said sources.
The aircraft reportedly had to hover for some time before getting clearance to land in Kabul. An Emirates flight was also "holding" at 28,000 feet awaiting clearance to land in Kabul at the same time. "There was an aircraft disabled on the runway, thus the ATC delay," said sources.
"The Air India flight has landed safely," said a senior government official. An AI official said the flight was operated under the air bubble with Afghanistan.
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association, union of AI pilots, had last Tuesday volunteered to fly to Afghanistan to evacuate Indians stranded there. “(we) are ready to go beyond the call of duty to evacuate (fellow) Indians.. extend complete support and cooperation to evacuate (Indians) from Afghanistan," ICPA had written to aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia last Tuesday.
Air India is the only scheduled commercial Indian carrier that currently flies to Afghanistan.
