An Air India flight with around 191 passengers on board had a mid-air scare on Wednesday when the cabin suffered a sudden drop of air pressure at an altitude of 20,000 feet, news agency ANI reported. It said that the Delhi to Frankfrut flight (Boeing 787) returned safely to the Delhi airport shortly after the incident.

The flight took off at 1:35 pm from Delhi airport. When it was in Rajasthan airspace, it suffered cabin decompression and was forced to return to the national capital at around 4 pm. A total of 191 passengers were on board when the incident occurred.


In a statement issued later, the national carrier said that all passengers including the crew are safe and it is committed to maintaining highest standards of passenger comfort and safety.

“No passenger has suffered any injury. Flight will now operate with a change of aircraft at 0600 hrs on 7th March from Delhi. All passengers are being extended all assistance in Delhi,” it said.

Cabin decompression occurs due to low level of oxygen in atmosphere. At high altitude, the air is very thin and level of oxygen is also low.

In August last year, Jet Airways flight 9W 697 enroute to Jaipur returned to Mumbai after passengers complained of ear bleeds and nosebleeds due to the low cabin pressure. There were 166 passengers on board when the incident occurred.