US-bound Air India passengers face tense wait after landing in Russia

Hundreds of passengers and crew of an Air India flight from New Delhi to San Francisco are facing a tense wait to complete their flight after an engine problem forced them to land in Russia’s Far East.

The emergency landing in Magadan, on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, raised questions about how Russian authorities treated the Boeing 777 plane and its GE Aerospace engines, as well as any of the 216 passengers and 16 crew carrying passports from hostile countries. How will you deal with Russia.

The US State Department said it could not confirm whether any US citizens were on board the service, adding that it was “closely monitoring the situation”. However, given the destination of the flight, there are almost certain to be many.

Air India said it would send an alternate flight on Wednesday to allow passengers to complete the journey from Magadan to San Francisco.

“The authorities are extending all possible cooperation in our endeavor to ensure that passengers reach their destinations safely at the earliest,” the airline said.

The carrier had earlier said that flight AI173 had developed a “technical problem” with one of its engines.

“The flight with 216 passengers and 16 crew on board was diverted and landed safely at Magadan airport in Russia,” Air India said.

It is unclear whether engineers from Boeing or GE – both US companies – will be allowed to travel to Russia to service the plane, given US sanctions against the country following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the sanctions were imposed, Russia has seized scores of Western-owned chartered planes that were under the control of Russian operators.

There have also been incidents when Western citizens in Russia have been detained for apparently minor or non-existent violations of Russian law. They include Brittany Griner, an American basketball player who was detained last February and sentenced to nine years in prison for possessing some cannabis-infused oil. He was eventually released in a prisoner exchange.

Ivan Gershkovich, a US citizen who worked in Russia for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in March on charges of espionage, which he, US officials and his employer vehemently deny. He is in custody awaiting trial.

The diversion comes a day after Scott Kirby, chief executive of the US’s United Airlines. warning At the IATA annual meeting in Istanbul of the risk of flights of aircraft with US citizens on board over Russia.

“When you fly over Russia, you use Russian airports to divert airplanes,” Kirby told a briefing. “If there are mechanical problems or medical problems, you’re going to land in Russia. What if an airline lands in Russia with some prominent American citizens? That’s a potential crisis in the making.

Geneva-based aerospace analyst Andrew Charlton pointed out that carriers from several countries that were “non-aligned” in the Ukraine war – including China and Turkey – continued to fly over Russia, like Air India.

“I expect the US citizens to be mostly ignored, rather than create a diplomatic incident that would anger Indians as well as Americans,” he said.

He said any necessary parts for the aircraft would have to be sourced from outside Russia. Due to sanctions, aircraft parts in Russia are now mostly cannibalized from older aircraft, raising questions about their provenance that would invalidate most international insurance contracts.

GE Aerospace said it was aware of the change in the route of the Air India flight.

“We are working to support our customer to resolve this issue,” it said.