Passengers of a Bengaluru-bound SpiceJet plane had to wait for a long time at the aerobridge at Delhi airport on Tuesday, with the airline saying the flight was delayed due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit
One of the passengers shared on social media a video of many co-passengers waiting at the aerobridge.
When passengers of Delhi-Bengaluru flight SG 8133 asked to open the boarding gate so that they could rest back in the waiting area, the authorities denied it and went missing, alleged Soumil Agarwal, a travel vlogger, in an Instagram post.
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"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," she wrote, sharing a purported video of the incident in which passengers canbe seen arguing with airline officials and security personnel.
In the video, some of them were heard asking for water.
The incident happened with passengers of SpiceJet flight SG 8133 from Delhi-Bengaluru.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said the flight was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft's previous rotation.
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"The incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru and crew was arranged from another incoming flight. 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," the SpiceJet spokesperson said.
According to the statement, as passengers had completed the security check they were requested to wait at the aerobridge.
"Water was served to passengers who were on the lower floor near aircraft door and aerobridge passage. The video was shot outside of the boarding gate that had limited access. All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers," it added.
Further, the airline said that on an average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport and for this particular flight, it was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time.
(With PTI Inputs)
