Air India flight AI138 on October 17 was supposed to be operated by a Boeing 787-8, also known as a Dreamliner. File | Photo credit: Reuters
Air India will operate a special flight from Milan to Delhi on Sunday (October 19, 2025) to bring back passengers stranded in the Italian city after the airline canceled their flight on Friday (October 17) following a technical problem with the Dreamliner.
More than 250 passengers were stranded in Milan after a flight was canceled on Friday (October 17). There were posts on social media complaining about the lack of facilities for passengers.
The airline said on Sunday (October 19) that it would operate a flight from Milan to Delhi today to accommodate passengers on flight AI138, which was canceled on October 17 due to a technical problem.
“To enable the affected passengers to return home to India in time for the festive occasion, our teams expedited the rectification process on the aircraft in Milan and secured the necessary permits to operate the next commercial flight AI138D departing Milan at 19:00 local time and arriving in Delhi on the morning of October 20,” Air India said in a statement.
The airline also said its teams are proactively reaching out to affected passengers who were previously rebooked on other airlines with post-Diwali arrivals and offering them the option to keep their existing bookings or switch to another flight operating today.
There have been complaints that stranded passengers will not be able to return to India for Diwali due to flight cancellations on Friday (October 17).
Flight AI138 on Friday (October 17) was to be operated by a Boeing 787-8, also known as a Dreamliner.
In a statement on Saturday (October 18) about the cancellation of the Milan flight, Air India said passengers were rebooked on alternative flights for October 20 or later based on seat availability on Air India and other airlines.
“In particular, one of the passengers, whose Schengen visa expires on October 20, was rebooked on another airline’s flight departing from Milan on October 19 to match her visa validity,” Air India said.
Published – 19 October 2025 17:38 IST
