New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- An Air India Milan-Delhi flight was cancelled on Saturday following a technical issue detected during pushback, the airline said.

According to the carrier, a maintenance task was identified just as the aircraft was preparing for departure. The situation was further complicated as the operating crew subsequently came under mandatory flight duty time limitation norms, making it unsafe and impermissible for them to continue.

"Flight AI138 operating from Milan to Delhi on 16 August was cancelled due to a maintenance task identified during pushback, and subsequently due to the crew coming under the mandatory flight duty time limitation norms," a spokesperson with Air India said in a statement.

"Air India sincerely regr...