An Air India Milan-Delhi flight was forced to return to Malpensa airport shortly after take-off on Thursday, when a passenger attempted to forcibly enter the plane’s cockpit.
There were 245 passengers on board AI 138 when the plane took off from Milan at 9 p.m. local time. However, around half an hour into the flight, when the plane was still in Italian airspace, it turned back.
“An Indian origin passenger, Gurpreet Singh, was deboarded and handed over to the local police after the flight returned to the airport,” an Air India spokesperson said.
The flight then took off with the remaining passengers at 11.52 p.m. and landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 10:31 a.m., after a delay of 2 hours and 35 minutes.
The airline spokesperson didn't comment on what led to the incident, only adding that an investigation was under way.