New Delhi: The departure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plane, Air India One, was delayed by 92 minutes on Thursday night at Myanmar's capital Nay Pyi Taw Airport, from where it was to fly to Brisbane, Australia. The delay was caused as the staff was waiting for the plane to be refuelled. When AI engineers asked for the equipment needed to refuel the 1996-make Boeing 747 (VT-EVA), they were threatened with arrest!
Air India One got fuel for the flight with great difficulty—and a long wait—after the intervention of the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the Indian embassy in Myanmar. The fuelling "service provider" at the airport reportedly did not cooperate with the AI engineers.
An internal AI report, in fact, says the service provider told the engineers that "he cannot tell when the service (fuelling) will be provided to AI and threatened to get people arrested if approached again on the bay". The engineers then told the SPG and the Indian embassy about the situation. The SPG carried out an anti-sabotage check.
The aircraft finally got fuel only in phases from 5.10pm to 10.35pm. It taxied out at 11.02pm—92 minutes after the scheduled departure time of 9.30pm. The PM's entourage waited till they were told the plane was ready to depart, after which they left for the airport.
17/11/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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Air India One got fuel for the flight with great difficulty—and a long wait—after the intervention of the Special Protection Group (SPG) and the Indian embassy in Myanmar. The fuelling "service provider" at the airport reportedly did not cooperate with the AI engineers.
An internal AI report, in fact, says the service provider told the engineers that "he cannot tell when the service (fuelling) will be provided to AI and threatened to get people arrested if approached again on the bay". The engineers then told the SPG and the Indian embassy about the situation. The SPG carried out an anti-sabotage check.
The aircraft finally got fuel only in phases from 5.10pm to 10.35pm. It taxied out at 11.02pm—92 minutes after the scheduled departure time of 9.30pm. The PM's entourage waited till they were told the plane was ready to depart, after which they left for the airport.
17/11/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
