Fog impact: 12-hour flight ordeal for 200 passengers

A SpiceJet Delhi-Ahmedabad flight turns into a nightmare for 200 passengers, when the flight was delayed over 12 hours today.

About 200 passengers of Delhi-Ahmedabad SpiceJet flight spent a sleepless night for about six hours inside the aircraft on Friday night after it was delayed and then cancelled early on Saturday.

HT Image

While some passengers who had come to New Delhi from other destinations to take the flight were offered hotel accommodation, the remaining passengers "chose to stay on board" till the wee hours this morning, an airline spokesperson said.

A passenger onboard the plane said, "We decided to sit. The ground crew kept on telling us to go to the terminal as it would be comfortable there but we decided to stay in the plane as we wanted to fly to Ahmedabad as soon as the fog cleared".

Maintaining that these passengers were offered food inside the aircraft, the spokesperson said, "Most passengers chose to stay on board till 0330 hours".

The delay was caused by "dense fog and below minimum operating visibility" which led the air traffic control at the IGI Airport in New Delhi not to clear the flight.

The flight, originally scheduled at 2140 hours, was delayed till 2355 hours and then to 0030 hours. Passengers
were informed at 0130 hours that it has been cancelled, the spokesperson said.

A special flight was arranged on Saturday morning which took off for Ahmedabad around 1000 hours.