Pune-bound Air Asia flight delayed for six hours in Delhi

PUNE: The Pune-bound Air Asia flight (I5 735) from Delhi was delayed on Friday and more than 150 passengers were stranded at Delhi International Airport. Passengers claim the airline sent them a message that the flight was delayed for four hours and later another message that the flight is on time. However, when the passengers arrived at the airport, they had to wait for six hours. 

The flight was scheduled to leave at 10.40 pm on Friday and reach Pune airport at 12.40 am on Saturday. The flight’s actual departure from Delhi was at 4.49 am and arrival in Pune was 6.48 am.

Narinder Sharma, a passenger, told Sakal Times, “In the morning, I received a message that the Pune flight scheduled for 10.40 pm has been delayed to 3.45 am. At 5.00 pm, I received a call that the flight is on time. After boarding, they said the flight is delayed. We were forced to wait for hours. No one from the airline informed us about the delay,” he said.

Representatives of Air Asia said the operations had been disrupted because of two bird hits. “We experienced severe disruptions in our operational schedule because two aircraft experienced bird hits. The aircraft was grounded for inspection till we could ascertain and quantify the damage. We regret the inconvenience and do reiterate that we place safety above all. All guests were attended to and provided with refreshments and available recovery options,” a spokesperson said. 

Ranjan Gaur, another flier, posted on Twitter, “Flight no. I5 735 was inordinately delayed after boarding passes were issued. This is for an overnight flight, with passengers stranded and nowhere to go.”