PremiumGo First airlines which came under fire on Tuesday for allegedly leaving behind over fifty passengers in Bengaluru airport in a bus on Monday, released an official apology statement citing the incident to 'inadvertent oversight'.
The incident that took place on Monday was brought to public attention after several stranded passengers explained their ordeal of being stuck in a bus to board the Delhi bound flight for at least one hour. According to several passenger testimonies, the 55 people left behind were later boarded on an Air India flight to Delhi at 10am.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to Go First regarding the incident that took place at Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru. The airline has been given two weeks' time to submit its reply to DGCA and based on that further action will be taken.
Go First has ordered an inquiry and has derostered all the staff who were involved in the incident for which aviation regulator DGCA has already issued a show cause notice.
"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to an inadvertent oversight in the reconciliation of flight G8 116, from Bengaluru to Delhi," the airline said in a statement.
It also said that passengers were accommodated on alternate airlines to Delhi and onward to other destinations.
"The airline has decided to offer all affected passengers one free ticket for travel on any domestic sector in the next 12 months," Go First said, adding it has also initiated an inquiry into the incident.
Further, Go First said that all staff concerned have been taken off the roster till the inquiry is going on.
On Monday, Delhi-bound Go First flight G8-116 took off from Bengaluru leaving behind 55 passengers at Bangalore airport, leaving behind over 50 passengers waiting their turn to board the plane.
"Most horrifying experience with @GoFirstairways 5:35 am Boarded the bus for aircraft 6:30 am Still in bus stuffed with over 50 passengers, driver stopped the bus after being forced. Flight G8 116 takes off, leaving 50+ passengers. Heights of negligence!" tweeted Shreya Sinha.
Satish Kumar, whose Twitter bio says "youth BJP", shared a screenshot of the ticket.
"Flight G8 116 (BLR - DEL) flew leaving passengers on ground! More than 50 passengers on 1 bus were left on ground and the flight took off with just passengers of 1 bus onboarded. Is @GoFirstairways@JM_Scindia @PMOIndia operating in sleep? No Basic checks."