DUBAI// A Dubai-bound Emirates Airline flight from India left almost 26 hours later than scheduled because of a technical snag.
EK523, which was scheduled to leave at 4.35am from Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala yesterday, was rescheduled to leave at the same time this morning, but eventually took off at 6.35am.
"A larger Boeing B777-300 ER aircraft will be deployed to accommodate all the passengers scheduled to travel today and tomorrow on flight EK523," an airline spokesman said last night before the flight's departure.
He said the delay was due to a "technical issue" but did not elaborate on the problem.
The airline said passengers from yesterday's flight had been put up in hotels until a new plane was sent from Dubai.
About 422 passengers in total - including travellers from today's flight - finally arrived at 8.45 am. Emirates did not provide any updated departure information.
On October 11, more than 100 passengers on an Emirates flight from Hyderabad to Dubai waited for five hours on the tarmac at Abu Dhabi after their plane was diverted to the capital.
The flight was scheduled to arrive in Dubai at 6.20am but was diverted when Dubai airport was closed for two hours by a power failure in thick fog. It finally touched down in Dubai at 2.15pm - 12 hours after it took off from Hyderabad - after a fresh crew came arrived to fly the 30-minute hop from Abu Dhabi.
Yesterday's delay comes four days after an Air India Express flight from Abu Dhabi to Kochi was diverted to Thiruvanthapuram because of fog.
Irate passengers, upset the flight had been delayed then diverted, stormed the cockpit, prompting the pilot to send out a hijack alert.
After landing in Thiruvanthapuram, passengers were told to travel to Kochi, about 200 kilometres away, by road. They strapped themselves to their seats and refused to leave the plane.
An investigation is underway by Indian authorities to determine why the pilot, Rupali Waghmare, pressed the cockpit's alarm button and threw notes from the window claiming she was under attack.
Indian police are also looking into passengers' complaints of poor treatment by the national carrier's budget airline.
pkannan@thenational.ae