Air India One develops problem, standby sent to ferry PM

NEW DELHI: Air India One, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft that carried Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Delhi to Berlin after halts in Paris, Toulouse and Hannover, developed engine problems and had to be replaced by another plane.

The standby plane, kept in readiness in Mumbai, left early this morning for Berlin and was used for flying the Prime Minister and his entourage to Ottawa in Canada on the last leg of his three-nation tour, Air India sources said.

Air India has also sent some additional cabin crew along with the aircraft.

As part of the protocol, the national carrier keeps one of its jumbo aircraft on the standby mode for such situations, they said.

The Prime Minister had left Delhi for Paris on April 9 and is scheduled to return here on the morning of April 18.