 "Air India flight delay")
Passengers onboard a San Francisco-bound Air India flight allegedly fainted at Delhi airport after an eight-hour delay on Thursday. The flight reportedly had no air-conditioning, causing problems amid the ongoing heatwave gripping the national capital. The Civil Aviation Ministry has served a showcause notice to Air India, reported NDTV.
The flight to San Francisco, which was supposed to take off yesterday afternoon was delayed for over 20 hours.
An airline official reportedly said the aircraft had developed a technical issue and engineering checks were carried out.
Due to the delay, the crew had crossed the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) and also if the flight had taken off, it would have reached San Francisco when there are night landing restrictions there, the official added.
Shweta Punj, a journalist, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said the passengers of flight No AI 183 were shifted to a hotel last night and were called to the airport at 8 am, but have reportedly been sent back to the hotel this morning.
“Today in two hours it will be 24 hours for the passengers of AI 183. They were sent to a hotel late last night, to be back at 8:00 am to the airport and now they have been asked to go back to the hotel,” she posted this morning.
More From This Section
On Thursday, Punj tweeted that the flight was delayed by over eight hours, and “people were made to board the plane and sit without air-conditioning” at the Delhi airport.
She said the passengers were then told to exit the aircraft after some of them fainted.
Delhi is experiencing a severe heatwave, with the temperature breaching the 50 degree Celsius mark on Wednesday.
“If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is Air India. DGCA [aviation regulator] AI 183 flight has been delayed for over eight hours, passengers were made to board the plane without air-conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight. This is inhuman,” Punj said in the post on X, tagging Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The Air India X handle responded to her, “Dear Ms Punj, we truly regret to note the disruptions. Please be rest assured that our team is actively working to address the delay and appreciate your ongoing support and understanding. We are also alerting our team to provide necessary assistance to the passengers.”
Another passenger, Abhishek Sharma, appealed to the airline for swift action and drew its attention to let his parents and “numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area [to] go home”.
The Air India X bot handle replied to Sharma with the same message that it responded to Ms Punj.
Passengers stranded amid confusion
Visuals posted by many other passengers show people including children sitting on the floor.
One passenger shared their experience, saying, “People were made to board the plane and sit without AC. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done.”
In January, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) released guidelines to manage chaotic situations following a surge of passengers due to fog at Delhi airport.
According to the DGCA’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for “facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights, and delays in flights,” airlines may cancel flights that are expected to be delayed or ‘consequentially delayed’ for more than three hours.
The DGCA had said all airlines must follow the SOP immediately.
A trail of airport chaos
A few weeks ago, chaos erupted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after Air India Express cancelled several flights bound for Goa, Guwahati, and Srinagar at the last moment, owing to a ‘mass sick leave’ taken by senior crew members.
Earlier during last winter season, several passengers had a harrowing experience as flights kept getting delayed and cancelled at the last moment due to intense fog.
