New Delhi: A Delhi-bound Indigo flight with several passengers on board was stranded at the Mumbai airport runway on Wednesday for more than seven hours. Passengers in the aircraft took to Twitter to complain that they were neither allowed to deboard nor given water or refreshments.
Flight 6E-6097 was scheduled to leave Mumbai at 3:15 pm and reach Delhi at 5.30 pm. According to FlightAware website, the plane finally departed at 9:55 pm. The city on Wednesday received torrential rainfall, which partially crippled flight operations at the airport.
“Passengers of Indigo Mumbai-Delhi flight, suffering from past 6 hours on Mumbai airport. Flight is not taking off nor passengers are allowed to go out. What the hell is happening here?,” Twitter user Pooja Rathi asked.
Passengers of indigo mumbai-delhi flight, suffering from past 6 hours on mumbai airport. Flight is not taking off nor passengers are allowed to go out.. What the hell is happening here? @IndiGo6E @MumbaiPolice @abpnewshindi — Pooja Rathi (@PoojaRathijpr) September 4, 2019
“People don't have even water to drink, some people are unconscious in flight,” another user Ravinder Sharma tweeted.
An Indigo flight from Mumbai to Delhi People Stuck in flight from last more than 6 Hours People Don't have even water to drink Some people are Unconscious in flight this is Plane Arrested Shame on Indigo— Ravinder Sharma (@Ravinde16395386) September 4, 2019
Another user asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to cancel the licence of the "pathetic" airline.
@DGCAIndia sir what is happening with Indigo flight 6E6097. The passengers are locked in the flight! Why don't u cancel the license of such pathetic airlines? It may lead to mass genocide.— #Indian???????? (@_mumbhau_) September 4, 2019
The passengers stranded in the flight tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Mumbai Police and the DGCA on Twitter describing their plight.
According to the DGCA policy, passengers are entitled to meals and refreshments at the airport if a flight is delayed for less than 24 hours and should be provided hotel accommodation if it is delayed by more than 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Indigo in a statement said that many of their crew and ground support staff were not able to reach at the airport due to the heavy rains in the city.
“Due to the unprecedented non-stop rains in Mumbai, there are close to 30 flights on ground. As a result of flooding and water logging on roads and the subsequent traffic jams, many of our ground support staff, crew and captains have not been able to reach the airport on time. As a result, the departure flights have also been held up We are doing everything possible to restore normalcy,” the airline added.
As per a live flight tracking website, around 20 flights have been cancelled and another 280 delayed since Tuesday. However, the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the private aerodrome operator, said the operations were "normal".
The Mumbai Airport, with crossing runways, handles around 1,000 arrivals and departures per day. As per the website, there was an average delay of 65 minutes in flights departing from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), with 76% of the outbound flights being affected. Besides, as many as 44% of the incoming flights were delayed by an average of eight minutes.
(With inputs from PTI)
Comments
0 comment