Kolkata: Late arrival of corresponding flight and illness of its pilot have caused a plane with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on board take off for New Delhi two-and-a-half hours behind schedule from here on Friday night, airport sources said.
Banerjee and Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Trivedi were supposed to take Air India's AI-101 flight to Delhi, scheduled to leave the NSC Bose International Airport at 8 pm.
But the corresponding flight from Delhi, IC-264, landed here at 9 pm instead of its scheduled 7 pm, the sources said adding its pilot was also supposed to fly the AI-101 flight.
However, the pilot said he was unwell, forcing authorities to search for another pilot. In the meantime, a Hyderabad-Kolkata flight arrived and its pilot was asked to fly the AI-101 flight to Delhi.
Finally, the plane with 124 passengers, including the two ministers, took off from here at 10.25 pm, the sources said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, May 22, 2010, 09:21