Vistara is rerouting passengers on its Mumbai-Frankfurt flight to their destination after the aircraft was diverted to Erzurum Airport in Turkey due to a reported bomb threat on Friday. The airline is dispatching a new aircraft with a fresh crew to complete the journey.
The substitute aircraft is expected to arrive at the Turkish airport by 12.25 local time and depart for Frankfurt with all passengers by 14.30 hours local time, according to an updated statement from Vistara.
Flight UK 27, en route from Mumbai to Frankfurt, took off from Mumbai at 1:01 pm on Friday, following a delay of an hour. It was initially scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt at 5:30 pm local time.
However, the Dreamliner 787-9 was rerouted to Turkey after a note claiming there was a bomb on board was discovered by the crew, according to Vistara sources.
As reported by AP, there were 247 passengers and crew members on the flight. The aircraft landed safely at Erzurum Airport at 7:05 pm local time on Friday.
“Since the crew have exceeded their duty time limitation, we are sending an alternate aircraft, with a fresh set of crew, to Erzurum Airport, Turkey, which is expected to arrive there by 1225 hours (local time) and depart for Frankfurt, with all customers, by 1430 hours(local time),” Vistara said in its updated statement.
All necessary checks have been completed, and security agencies have cleared the passengers, crew, and aircraft, Vistara stated. In the interim, the airline is working to minimise inconvenience by providing refreshments and meals to those affected.
On Friday, Vistara announced that Flight UK 27 from Mumbai to Frankfurt was diverted to Erzurum Airport in Turkey for security reasons and landed safely at 7:05 pm local time. The airline did not disclose the number of passengers and crew on board at that time.