The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked SpiceJet for a detailed report after Bengaluru-bound passengers at the Delhi airport on Tuesday were stranded at an aerobridge for over an hour “without water or information”.
The incident came to light, when one of the passengers, Soumil Agarwal, who makes travel vlogs, uploaded a video of the chaos, alleging that the passengers were made to cross the boarding gate after which the flight gates were shut, “locking" the passengers up in the middle.
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“I understand that sometimes flights get delayed. But making the passengers cross the Boarding gate, then closing the flight gates and not letting your passengers go beyond any of these 2 ways, and locking them up in the middle is not cool,” Agarwal wrote on Instagram.
“When passengers asked to open the boarding gate so that they can rest back at the waiting area, the authorities denied it and went missing, when senior citizens asked for water because they were locked in there for more than an hour and had no water, the authorities didn’t give them water and told them to ask for water in the flight once the gates are open. And when people asked them on how much tentative time would it take for that- they had no answer. Who treats their customers like this?” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“When passengers asked to open the boarding gate so that they can rest back at the waiting area, the authorities denied it and went missing, when senior citizens asked for water because they were locked in there for more than an hour and had no water, the authorities didn’t give them water and told them to ask for water in the flight once the gates are open. And when people asked them on how much tentative time would it take for that- they had no answer. Who treats their customers like this?” he added.
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However, the airline in its statement said the delay was due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit.
"SpiceJet flight SG 8133 (Delhi-Bengaluru) dated 10 January 2023 was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft's previous rotation. As a result, the incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru the and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation," SpiceJet spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that on average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport while on this particular flight, the turnaround time was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time.
"As passengers had completed the security check they were requested to wait at the aerobridge. All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers," the spokesperson said.