Man who dodged AI 171 crash boards AI 159 with prayers | Ahmedabad News

AHMEDABAD: First flights are all about nervous excitement, but this one was always going to be different.AI 159 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick – the first on that route since the June 12 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash, renumbered from AI 171– took off Monday on the sombre wings of remembrance and prayer, ferrying at least one passenger who might have been on the crashed aircraft four days earlier had his mother not taken ill suddenly.Jayesh Ramji was approaching Gate 4 of Terminal 2, tightly clasping his cabin bag, when his mind raced back through the surreal last few days of his trip to India. “I was to return on AI 171. I postponed my travel to June 16 because my mother was unwell. All I want is to get back home safe,” said the 34-year-old London shop assistant with roots in Diu.‘I trust God & AI. I want to go back, not stay scared forever’Passenger Jayesh Ramji wasn’t the only face betraying more than a trace of emotion ahead of renumbered flight AI 159’s 4.30 pm departure, over three hours later than scheduled. The terminal was seemingly quieter than usual, with families clinging a little tighter, and goodbyes lasting a tad longer.Raas Mishra, 28, had just said goodbye to his teary-eyed parents. “They were scared. I am a tad nervous, too, but I have flown Air India before. I trust their pilots,” said the young man, employed with a logistics firm in London.For 72-year-old Kokila Patel of Patan, the announcement of a delay — the Dreamliner was to take off at 1.10pm — added to what she described as “emotional exhaustion”. She was scheduled to fly out on June 14, but the flight was cancelled after the crash two days earlier.“My son said I should book another airline. But I had already confirmed my travel on June 16 with Air India by then,” she said. “I trust God and the airline. I want to go back, not stay scared forever.”Her elder sister, Pushpa, 75, said she had “begged” her sibling to change the airline, “but she wouldn’t listen”.Sabina Qasmani, 21, from Veraval, was heading back to the UK to join her father and siblings. Her mother, Ameena, admitted she would be anxious until she received a call from London that her daughter had reached safely. “Since the crash, I haven’t been able to sleep. Sabina is flying the same route. It’s hard not to worry,” she said.For Riddhi, a young married woman returning to the UK after visiting her family in Ahmedabad, the journey was about managing mixed emotions. “This is my second trip home since getting married. I was happy being with my family, but I now want to get back safely to my husband.”