The Amritsar-Delhi-Birmingham-Toronto, Delhi-Abu Dhabi- Muscat, Delhi-Bangkok-Shanghai, Delhi-London-New York and Delhi-Dubai flights were delayed by five to 24 hours due to technical difficulties, shortage of pilots and flight duty time limitation.

The Air India Express flight from Dubai arrived 24 hours behind schedule due to fog at Kozhikode airport this morning leading to protest by the passengers, among whom was Kerala Minister and Muslim League leader M K Muneer.

In Delhi, the passengers had a harrowing time since yesterday without food, water and sleep following hours of delay with Air India officials "hiding" to avoid passengers' fury.

"I have been here since last evening... it is almost 24 hours." Md Aftab, a Lucknow resident, told PTI.

He said the most frustrating part of his "long and bad experience" was that no Air India official was available to give the passengers a correct picture of the situation.

When some passengers, angry over the long delay, protested and wanted explanations, no senior Air India official came forward to pacify them.

"Only some very junior officials are present in the airport who has no information and authority," Jagdish Sharma, another passenger, said.

The Air India Assistance booth, located at the departure lounge of the international airport, was totally deserted.