After a nearly two-day ordeal, 228 Air India passengers stranded in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar finally reached Delhi at around 8:24am on Wednesday, following a diversion of their San Francisco-Delhi flight on Monday evening due to a “technical issue”.

The long journey home ended when Air India’s relief flight AI183, operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, ferried the passengers and crew back to India. The aircraft took off from Delhi on Tuesday afternoon and returned early Wednesday, bringing closure to a disruption that began almost 36 hours earlier.

Air India wrote on X: “The relief flight carrying passengers and crew of AI174, who were stranded in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, after a precautionary diversion, has landed in Delhi this morning. Air India would like to thank the local authorities in Ulaanbaatar, the Indian Embassy in Mongolia, the DGCA, the Government of India, and all those who helped us in ensuring that the passengers and crew were looked after during this time and bring them to Delhi safely. We also thank our passengers for their patience and understanding during the diversion. The safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains our foremost priority.”

The passengers had been stranded after flight AI174, operating from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata, made a precautionary landing in Ulaanbaatar on Monday night when the flight crew detected a suspected technical glitch midair.

The Boeing 777-300 aircraft had been airborne for nearly 11 hours and was about seven hours short of its scheduled stop in Kolkata when it was diverted.

“AI174 operating from San Francisco to Delhi via Kolkata made a precautionary landing at Ulaanbaatar after the flight crew suspected a technical issue en route,” the airline said, adding that the plane “landed safely” and was undergoing technical checks.

Air India said in a statement that it had been looking after the passengers and crew, providing them hotel accommodation and meals during their stay in Mongolia.

“Air India will be operating a relief flight to ferry the passengers of flight AI174 (San Francisco–Delhi of 02 November), which was diverted to Ulaanbaatar on Monday. The ferry flight AI183 is scheduled to depart Delhi this afternoon and return with the affected passengers on Wednesday morning,” the airline had said on Tuesday.

The Indian embassy in Ulaanbaatar confirmed that its officials were deployed immediately to assist passengers upon learning about the diversion.

“On receipt of information from Air India, one hour prior to the landing, a team of Embassy officials were immediately deputed at the airport to facilitate immigration and hotel stay of the 228 passengers plus crew members,” the embassy said on X.

It added that all arrangements, including visa facilitation, transportation, and accommodation, were made in coordination with Mongolian authorities.

Following the diversion, passengers were served meals on board and later disembarked after immigration clearance.

“With the help of our partners and local authorities, Air India has extended immediate assistance to the passengers. They were served meals on board and disembarked. Hotel arrangements have been made for their stay after clearing immigration procedures at the airport,” an Air India spokesperson said.