19 October,2009 12:20 PM IST | | IANS
The chartered US military aircraft which was detained here Sunday and finally cleared is expected to depart Monday afternoon, nearly 28 hours later, 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 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 US Consulate in Mumbai finally decided that the 205 US 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 a.m. Sunday while on a flight from Fujairah (UAE) to Bangkok.
The flight was carrying the US marines on a holiday to Bangkok.
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