Five-hour delay of IndiGo flight frustrates flyers

PUNE: Passengers booked on an IndiGo flight to Ahmedabad were stranded at the city airport for over five hours on Tuesday morning, a day after the airline’s Chennai-bound flyers experienced a delay of almost a similar duration.





The airline, still dealing with its alleged faulty engine issue, attributed the Tuesday’s flight delay to a technical glitch in its software system. But the IndiGo’s flight to Kolkata, supposed to take off right before the Ahmedabad flight, was delayed by just 11 minutes.

The Ahmedabad-bound flight (6E352) was scheduled to take off from Pune at 6.25am. But it departed around noon. Several passengers complained that they had little or no information about the delay.

“Considering the timing of the flight, my parents were at the airport by 4am. Imagine the situation they must have gone through. I got a call from them around 8am, saying that the flight had been delayed. I again got a call from them at 10am about the delay. The flight finally took off around noon,” said a working executive of the city, requesting anonymity.

“According to my parents, many passengers asked the airline’s ground staffers the reason for the flight delay. They kept on saying that the flight would arrive soon and that the delay was because of operational reasons. Beyond that, they did not get any replies. Many passengers, including my parents, were upset and frustrated as they were waiting at the airport for eight hours,” he added.

When contacted, an IndiGo spokesperson said the flight was delayed because of technical issues. “The staffers informed me that there was a technical glitch in the system, which caused the delay. The passengers were told about the same and refreshments were provided. There was no engine issue,” the spokesperson said.

When the spokesperson was contacted again to know the exact nature of the glitch in the software system, TOI was told that a specific reply would be sent. It was awaited till going to press.