Abu Dhabi: The team flying the first solar plane across the globe alleged that red tape delayed take-off from Ahmedabad airport for nearly two hours on Wednesday morning.
The Solar Impulse 2 landed at Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, on March 10, but its scheduled departure after two days was extended for a week due to bad weather.
Alexandra Gindroz, Media Relations Manager, told Gulf News that there was a delay in getting customs and immigration clearance on Wednesday despite the team’s best efforts during the week-long stay at Ahmedabad. She was speaking on the phone from the Switzerland headquarters of Solar Impulse.
Gindroz added that whenever Bertrand Piccard, co-founder and co-pilot, approached authorities for clearance, they kept putting off the process.
Indian authorities were not immediately available for comment, but the Times of India daily quoted an unnamed Indian immigration official at Ahmedabad airport as saying that Piccard should have gone for his immigration clearance as soon as he had arrived at Ahmedabad airport on March 10. “We go to the plane only when the prime minister, president or chief justice of India is travelling. Piccard was neither a VVIP nor a state guest so he should have come for clearance upon his arrival,” he said.
The plane eventually departed from Ahmedabad airport at 7.18am local time and was scheduled to arrive in the Indian city of Varanasi at 9pm on Wednesday, Gindroz said. After an eight-hour halt at Varanasi, the Solar Impulse 2 will start its fourth leg to Mandalay in Myanmar. It will halt at Mandalay for two days before proceeding to China.
The plane that embarked on a historic five-month global flight from Abu Dhabi on March 9, will fly 35,000km without using a drop of fuel.
