SpiceJet passengers wait long at Delhi; airline says delay from crew

Passengers of a SpiceJet plane had to wait for a long time at Delhi airport as the flight was delayed due to weather disruptions that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit, said airline

Passengers of a Bengaluru-bound SpiceJet plane had to wait for a long time at the aerobridge at Delhi airport on Tuesday, with the airline saying the flight was delayed due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit.

One of the passengers shared on social media a video of many co-passengers waiting at the aerobridge. In the video, some of them were heard asking for water.

The incident happened with passengers of SpiceJet flight SG 8133 from Delhi-Bengaluru.

A SpiceJet spokesperson said the flight was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft's previous rotation.

"As a result of this, the incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation," the spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the statement, as passengers had completed the security check they were requested to wait at the aerobridge.

"Water was served to passengers who were on the lower floor near aircraft door and aerobridge passage. The video was shot outside of the boarding gate that had limited access. All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers," it added.

Further, the airline said that on an average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport and for this particular flight, it was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time.