Cockroaches Spotted on Air India Flight from San Francisco to Mumbai; Plane Cleaned in Kolkata

On an Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai, a few small cockroaches were found by passengers on board. In an official statement, the airlines stated that cockroaches were seen by two passengers first on the flight, which had a halt at Kolkata. Those two passengers were then moved to different seats. The aircraft was deeply cleaned when it was halted at Kolkata. An Air India spokesperson said that on flight AI 180 from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata, two passengers were bothered by a few small cockroaches. The cabin crew relocated the two passengers to other seats in the same cabin. They felt comfortable there.

The spokesperson further added, “Our ground crew quickly addressed the problem by performing a thorough cleaning procedure during the flight's planned fuel stop in Kolkata. Later, the same plane took off on schedule for Mumbai.” 

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In the official statement, the airlines mentioned the incident and gave a justification for what happened. It said, “Despite our regular fumigation efforts, insects can sometimes enter an aircraft during ground operations.”

In another incident, Air India’s flight AI349, which was supposed to leave from Singapore and land in Chennai on August 3, was cancelled due to some maintenance work. The task was identified just before the departure, hence it required additional time for rectification, the airline stated. It also mentioned that arrangements were made to transit passengers from Singapore to Chennai at the earliest, it said.