Moscow-bound Air India plane returns to Delhi mid-flight

New Delhi: An empty Moscow-bound Air India flight returned to Delhi when it emerged that its pilot had tested positive for the coronavirus, sources said.

Test results came after take-off and the pilot was informed midway through the flight, they said. Mapping by FlightRadar24 shows that AI 1945 reversed course while flying in Uzbek airspace.

The flight was part of India's Vande Bharat mission, a repatriation exercise meant to help Indians stranded abroad during the coronavirus pandemic.

"When the A320 plane, which did not have any passengers as it was heading to Moscow to bring back stranded Indians under Vande Bharat Mission, had reached Uzbekistan's airspace, our team on the ground realised that one of the pilots had tested COVID-positive," senior Air India officials said.

"The flight was immediately asked to return. It came back to Delhi at around 12.30 pm on Saturday," the officials said. The crew has been quarantined.

Another plane would be sent to Moscow to bring back the stranded Indians, according to the officials.

General international flight travel is yet to resume, although domestic carriers are back in the air. The government had suspended all civil and international flights on March 23.