Angered by delay, passengers of Goa-Delhi flight dine on tarmac

Passengers on an Indigo flight from Goa to Delhi refused to get off the aircraft after it was diverted to Mumbai due to poor visibility in Delhi. They instead sat on the tarmac and had dinner. The flight eventually left for Delhi after a delay of 12 hours. Mumbai airport also experienced major disruptions with flights from Delhi, with delays of up to three hours.

The crew on board a Goa-Delhi flight that was diverted to Mumbai owing to poor visibility had the most harrowing 12 hours of their life.

Angered by delay, passengers of Goa-Delhi flight dine on tarmac

The Indigo flight – 6E2195 – was scheduled to take off around 2.25 pm on Sunday. After a few hours’ delay, when the aircraft did take off and land in Mumbai at 11.40 pm, a bizarre incident was waiting to unfold.

Ground staff connected the stepladder to the aircraft and the passengers were asked to alight. Though the airline had kept food packets in the coach (the bus that would carry them to terminal 1 building), the passengers refused to get in.

Upset by the unexpected stopover, with many of them demanding that the flight be immediately taken to Delhi, passengers instead collected their food packets and sat down to have their dinner on the tarmac, next to the parked aircraft.

Airport authorities had to call in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel who cordoned them off, an airline official said.

Finally, the flight left for Delhi at 2.39 am on Monday.

An Indigo spokesperson said, “We are aware of the incident involving IndiGo flight 6E2195 from Goa to Delhi on January 14. The flight was diverted to Mumbai due to low visibility conditions in Delhi. We sincerely apologise to our customers and are currently looking into the incident. We will take necessary steps to avoid any such instances in the future.”

When contacted, a spokesperson from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport said as the flight was already delayed in Goa, passengers were restless and rushed out of the aircraft as soon as the stepladder was connected to it.

“The airport operators in coordination with CISF’s quick response team cordoned off the passengers into a safety zone as they refused to get into the airline coach and proceed to the terminal building. The passengers were kept under strict watch of airline authorities and security personnel until further actions were taken,” the spokesperson said and added the flight was diverted to Mumbai due to unfavourable weather conditions in Delhi.

On Monday, Mumbai airport reported major disruptions with the flights arriving from Delhi. Till 10.45 pm, all the 33 flights that arrived in the city were delayed for anywhere between 20 minutes and three hours.

IndiGo and Air India flights reported maximum delays on nearly all its flights. An IndiGo flight that was supposed to land at 7.35 am touched down only at 9.33 am, while an Air India flight arrived only at 11.08 am, nearly two hours after its scheduled landing at 9.15 am, according to data from flightradar24.com, a live air traffic monitoring website.

The delays worsened after 1 pm. An IndiGo flight scheduled to arrive in Mumbai at 1.30 pm touched down after two hours and 28 minutes at 3.47 pm. Another IndiGo flight, scheduled to arrive at 6.30 pm, was delayed by three hours and 20 minutes and landed at 9.47 pm, the data showed.

According to flightradar24.com, during the Monday evening peak hours, the Mumbai airport was reporting an average flight delay of 70 minutes and a disruption index of 5, an indication of flights delayed and cancelled. A total of 217 flights or 45% of the total flights were delayed on arrivals on Monday while 25 were cancelled.

On the other hand, 347 flights or 73% of the total flights departing Mumbai were delayed and 36% were cancelled.

(With inputs from Satish Nandgaonkar)