U.S. military aircraft to depart this afternoon

A U.S. aircraft carrying U.S. Marines is seen grounded at the Mumbai airport on Sunday. The aircraft was ordered to land by the IAF after a discrepancy in its call sign.

The chartered U.S. military aircraft which was detained here on Sunday and finally cleared is expected to depart on Monday afternoon, airport sources said.

The aircraft, which was ordered to land by the Indian Air Force (IAF) after a discrepancy in its call sign (identification), was first detained for and then cleared by all the relevant Indian departments and security agencies on Sunday afternoon.

However, on account of a dispute over payment of certain charges to the Air Traffic Control and airport authorities and other procedural issues, the plane could not take off.

The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai finally decided that the 205 Marines and a few crew members would make an overnight halt in Mumbai.

Accordingly, after processing their visa and other documents, the passengers and crew checked into Hotel Hyatt Regency adjacent to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The aircraft remained parked in a remote bay of the airport near the Kurla end since it landed here at 7.52 am on Sunday while on a flight from Fujairah, UAE to Bangkok.

The flight was carrying the U.S. Marines on a holiday to Bangkok.