New Delhi: Around 300 passengers were confined inside an Air India AI-332 aircraft at Indira Gandhi International Airport for about seven and a half hours on Thursday. The flight was bound from Delhi to Bangkok and was scheduled to take off at 1.58 pm.
The airline issued an apology on Twitter when passengers stuck inside the aircraft shared their experience on social media. It said that the flight got delayed due to 'unavoidable technical reasons'. The passengers alleged that they were not provided refreshments during the entire time they were confined in the aircraft.
Sources said that all passengers had boarded the flight on time. However, it was announced that the flight would take off after some time. The announcements were made at frequent intervals for the entire stretch of seven-and-a-half hours. No passenger was allowed to step out from the aircraft. When the flight did not take off after a long time, a Twitter war broke out between the airline and the passengers as well as their relatives.
"Flight is delayed since 1.5 hrs. AC is switched off and you are not serving water. Why are u not allowing passengers to deplane? People getting suffocated. My wife has just got pregnant and she has to go through all of this. @DGCAIndia" a Twitter user named Deepanshu Sethi wrote.
To this, the airline replied saying that their team is trying its best to minimize the inconvenience. They are also alerting their ground team to provide all necessary assistance to the passengers, it added.
Another Twitter user wrote, "People suffocating inside plane from 1.5 hours in Delhi heat with no air conditioning. Not allowing to deplane. Not serving water or beverages. Please take action immediately." After a few hours she took to Twitter again and wrote, "Waiting from 5 effing hours for our flight. No clarity on rescheduling. Made elderly walk 500 plus metres to new gate and now they are cancelling the rescheduled flight as well."
In its response, Air India said that the aircraft was facing some technical fault and hence the delay. It further informed that its staff is constantly trying to rectify the fault and it assured that the flight will take off soon. Instructions have been given to the ground staff to make all the essential items available to the passengers at the earliest.
