An Air India plane flying from New Delhi to San Francisco was forced to deviate from its route and make an emergency landing at an airport in the Russian Far East due to a technical problem with one of its engines, the airline said. The incident drew attention to tensions in the aviation industry over Russian airspace and came just a day after the head of a major American company predicted an almost identical scenario, Reuters reported.

The diversion of the Boeing 777 comes amid a global debate over the use of Russian airspace by some carriers, with the head of US-based United Airlines warning on Monday of the dangers of a forced landing in Russia of a plane carrying US citizens. board.

Air India said the 216 passengers and 16 crew on board were offered ground support and overnight accommodation. However, given the limitations of the infrastructure at the Magadan airport, passengers were moved to improvised accommodation facilities.

US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said on Tuesday that it was “likely” there were Americans on board, given the intended destination. “We have been advised that a US-bound flight had to make an emergency landing in Russia and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” Patel said.

“There are a lot of nervous people here”

A passenger told India’s NDTV that there were many American citizens on the plane who were concerned about tensions between Russia and the United States. “There are a lot of nervous people here,” said the passenger.

Air India said it could not provide details about the passengers but was making every effort and co-operation to ensure the passengers reached their destination safely as soon as possible.

Angry passengers took to Twitter to complain about inadequate food supplies and their accommodation, which they said was like a school. One user said his mother was given tea, bread and some rice on Tuesday, but he didn’t contact him later because he wanted to save his phone battery and there was only one outlet.

Air India said it had no staff in Russia and that the support provided to passengers was “the best possible under these unusual circumstances”.

For its part, Russia’s aviation authority said it checked the plane’s technical condition after landing at Magadan airport – a port city on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East – and that it had given permission for an alternative flight to land there. on Wednesday at 03.00 GMT (6.00 Romanian time).

Indeed, Air India sent a plane to pick up the passengers on Wednesday.

How can a plane be repaired in Russia?

The plane’s diversion raised questions about how quickly the $200 million U.S.-built plane, whose engines are made by General Electric, could be repaired amid U.S. and European Union sanctions over the export of aircraft parts to Russia.

“This plane needs repairs, there are mechanics on board,” India’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters, referring to the flight that was scheduled to take off to pick up stranded passengers. “I don’t know how long it will take to repair this plane, but the passengers will be taken to their final destination,” an Indian official said.

A source at Magadan airport told Reuters that Air India engineers, who were due to arrive in Russia on a spare plane, would bring spare parts with them.

This situation is not the first time. In 2018, a Norwegian Air Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Iran due to engine problems, just weeks after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran. The plane was stuck in Iran for more than two months. The 186 passengers and six crew managed to fly out of Shiraz the next day, but despite initial assurances from the airline that the plane would also be quickly repatriated, the General Electric engine plant waited weeks for an export license from the US Treasury Department, it said. Reuters.

The U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel declined to say whether the United States would allow the export of parts for repairs if necessary.

GE Aerospace said it is aware of the incident and is working with Air India to resolve the issue.

Troubled air space

Russia banned US airlines and other foreign carriers from using its airspace in response to Washington banning Russian flights over the United States in March 2022 after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.

However, Air India and some Gulf airlines, Chinese and African carriers continue to fly over Russia, reducing flight times and making American competitors uncompetitive.

In February, US senators urged the Biden administration to ban Chinese airlines and other foreign carriers from flying over Russia on routes to the US.

Reuters reported last week that on four newly approved flights to and from the United States, Chinese airlines avoid using Russian airspace.

However, Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson on Monday defended his airline’s use of Russian airspace, citing the important role the industry plays in bringing together economies, people and cultures. Following the Boeing 777 incident, Air India has resumed flights over Russia, flying four flights over the country on Tuesday afternoon, according to FlightRadar24.

Disputes between carriers

By the way, on Tuesday in Istanbul, the global meeting of representatives of the aviation industry ended, carriers disagree about the use of Russian airspace as an important checkpoint in the global air transport network, Reuters reports.

Russia’s ban on foreign carriers from using its airspace in response to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine has reshaped air routes and upended the business models of some airlines that now have to fly around the world’s largest country.

The potential impact is far-reaching, with one flight between Europe and Asia spawning three across the network, with passengers having to make connecting flights, according to Brussels-based air traffic regulator Eurocontrol.

While US, European and Japanese carriers have stopped flying over Russia, Air India and some Gulf and Chinese airlines continue to do so, cutting flight times and giving them an economic advantage over rivals.

Air India, which is being modernized under new owner Tata Group, has rapidly increased its international presence with new non-stop flights to Europe and the United States. Being able to use Russian airspace has become an advantage as it tries to capture more market share.

The scenario predicted the day before

Scott Kirby, CEO of the US company United Airlines, said that his company had to stop several flights to India for economic reasons or for reasons of autonomy of the planes due to the necessary detour. Obviously, this is a big influence for us,” he said.

And as tensions between the superpowers approach Cold War levels, he outlined a scenario eerily similar to the incident that took place in the Russian Far East just 24 hours later. “What if an airline lands in Russia with several prominent US citizens on board? This is a potential crisis,” Scott Kirby warned Monday. “I think we have to fix this before that crisis happens,” he said.

The disagreements highlighted Russia’s strategic and geographic importance in the world of global aviation, as it offers the most direct flight route between the West and the East, an important factor for airlines to keep costs down.

The director of IATA wants to open the airspace of Russia

An influential trade organization that traces its origins to the post-World War II development of civil aviation, IATA has been at the forefront of efforts to create a single global civil aviation architecture. But the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed differences among its members over the use of Russian air corridors.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh called for the opening of Russian airspace. “We would like everyone to use Russian airspace. I’m sure it’s not a matter of safety or security,” Walsh told Reuters.

Western carriers are particularly upset by what they see as a potential competitive disadvantage against Chinese airlines as the world’s second-largest economy reopens and overseas travel picks up.

On the other hand, airlines in the United States have negotiated with the government to prevent carriers from landing on American soil after flying through Russian airspace, which creates taxes for Moscow.

“This is a sensitive geopolitical issue, and I’m not sure applying geopolitics to the airline industry, which does so much to bring the world together, would be appropriate,” said Wilson, Air India’s CEO. (Source: News.ro / Photo: Dreamstime.com)