Delay, deboard test patience of flyers from Pune to Delhi & Kolkata

Time of India

5 days ago

Pune: Passengers of a SpiceJet's Pune-Delhi flight on Sunday evening remained seated in the aircraft for more than an hour after the first round of taxiing and their aircraft flew nine hours behind its scheduled departure time, while Akasa Air's Kolkata-bound plane's flyers encountered almost three-and-a-half hours' delay on Monday afternoon because of a nauseating stench in the cabin.
Over 100 flyers were booked on SpiceJet's Pune-Delhi flight (SG-914) on Sunday, scheduled to fly at 12noon and land in Delhi by 2.20pm. A flyer, requesting anonymity, said he got a message from the airline in the morning that the flight would depart at 5pm. He said the boarding was complete around 5.15pm. After taxiing for a while, the plane stopped.
"The aircraft remained at standstill till around 6pm. Then it made a turnaround and headed towards the bay.
We remained seated in the plane from 6pm to 7.30pm without any proper information as to what was going on. The cabin crew did not respond to our queries properly and with clarity," the flyer said.
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Gautam Kumar, another flyer, vented his frustration on X. "Nobody is aware of the actual issue and expected resolution time," he posted.
All flyers were deboarded after 7.30pm and taken to the terminal building. "We had to wait for another one-and-a-half hours, during which our security check was conducted.
We boarded the plane again around 9pm. The aircraft took off at 9.20pm and landed in Delhi at 11.15pm," another flyer said.
A SpiceJet spokesperson told TOI, "The aircraft had to return to the bay because of a technical issue. Passengers were deplaned after an hour and the flight later departed at 9.05pm. The aircraft's air-conditioning was fully functional. Passengers were served refreshments and were assisted throughout by SpiceJet ground staff."
On Monday afternoon, about 200 flyers of Akasa Air's Kolkata-bound flight (QP-1563) were deboarded because of a foul smell in the aircraft. Krishna Agarwal, a flyer, said the flight was supposed to take off from Pune at 1.05pm. "It got delayed and the boarding started at 2.20pm. We felt the nauseating stench just after stepping into the plane. The passengers were deboarded at 2.40pm, following protests," Agarwal said.
"We had to complete the security check process all over again and I entered the plane again at 3.20pm. I could still feel the smell. But the cabin crew simply said those who wanted to fly could fly and vice versa. We had no choice," Agarwal said, as the aircraft was taxiing towards the runway.
An Akasa Air spokesperson told TOI, "An unpleasant odour was detected in the cabin of an Akasa Air aircraft scheduled to operate flight QP1563 from Pune to Kolkata on July 14 shortly after the boarding was completed. Subsequently, all passengers were deboarded and the aircraft's cabin and cargo hold underwent a thorough cleaning. Our crew members and on-ground teams attended to the passengers and kept them informed during the delay.
The flight departed from Pune at 4.32pm."