Summary

  • Air India canceled a flight from EWR to DEL to bring back the T20 World Cup champion Indian cricket team from Barbados.
  • Hurricane Beryl initially delayed the team’s return, prompting them to charter an Air India Boeing 777-200LR.
  • However, the same aircraft was scheduled to operate Air India flight AI106 from EWR to DEL, which has led to an investigation by India’s aviation regulator.

Air India had brought back the champion Indian national cricket team and the T20 World Cup trophy from Barbados. However, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is investigating whether the airline did so at the expense of passengers who had booked a flight ticket from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL). Air India canceled the flight on July 2.

Bringing home the champions

The India national cricket team won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup on June 29, defeating South Africa and claiming its second-ever World Cup at the tournament. The two national teams played the final in Bridgetown, Barbados. However, Hurricane Beryl, which formed on June 28, left the Indian national cricket team stranded in Barbados for a few days.

According to the United States National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hurricane Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic basin on record, and only the second Category 5 hurricane to occur in July after Hurricane Emily in 2005.

Nevertheless, with Air India’s assistance, the Indian cricketers could finally depart Bridgetown Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) on July 3. The team chartered an Air India Boeing 777-200LR, registered as VT-AEE, which arrived at BGI on July 3, leaving the airport on the same day a few hours later. The Triple Seven arrived at DEL at 6:05 local time (UTC +5:30) on July 4 after flying for more than 15 hours from BGI.

The anticipation of the winning cricket team’s arrival set a record, making this flight the most tracked on the flight tracking platform FlightRadar24 for 15 straight hours.

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Chartering AIC24WC

The airline operated the flight under the special flight code AIC24WC, which stands for ‘Air India Champions 24 World Cup.’ The same flight was supposed to bring back the Indian national cricket team much earlier, but Hurricane Beryl prevented the airline from doing so.

However, the Boeing 777-200LR that operated the chartered flight on July 3 was scheduled to fly the regularly scheduled Air India flight AI106 between EWR and DEL. Instead, the flight was canceled, according to Flightradar24. On July 2, the twin-aisle aircraft operated flight AI105 from DEL to EWR and flew to BGI to pick up the Indian cricket champions.

Air India Boeing 777-200LR in Kansai, Japan shutterstock_2464499593

Photo: yanchi1984 | Shutterstock

As a result, the Indian aviation regulator DGCA has begun investigating the case, as a senior DGCA official confirmed to the Press Trust of India (PTI). An Air India representative told PTI that the airline had informed the travelers who were scheduled to fly AI106 on July 3 of the flight change. The airline is reported to have arranged transport for any passengers who arrived at Newark for the canceled flight to the airline’s flight out of New York-JFK. On July 3, Air India flight AI102 departed New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for DEL, landing at the Indian city at 6:16 local time on July 4.

However, DGCA rules state that an airline can only operate a non-scheduled international flight if doing so does not affect its scheduled flight operations, so the regulator is looking for an explanation of the events. ​​​​​​​

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Air India’s network in the US

Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium showed that Air India operates flights to the US from three Indian airports: DEL, Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM), and Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport (BLR). In July, the airline had 50 weekly departures from India to the US.

Air India Boeing 777-300 flying

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

This amounts to 15,358 weekly seats and 190 million weekly available seat kilometers (ASK), with the airline serving six airports in the US: EWR, Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), JFK, Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

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