Mumbai, January 15: Passengers in Delhi, Mumbai and other parts of the country had to face major inconvenience due to the flight delay on Sunday, January 14. Several flights, including of budget airline IndiGo, were delayed. A video surfaced on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, January 15, showing passengers of a delayed IndiGo flight having dinner on the airport apron in Mumbai.
The video showed the passengers sitting on the airport apron and eating food. An IndiGo plane was seen stationed in the background. The person, who shared the video, said the passengers were to catch a Goa-Delhi flight, which got delayed for 12 hours. After they boarded the flight, it was diverted to Mumbai.
Stranded Passengers Of IndiGo Flight Having Dinner At Airport Apron
Mumbai Airport's Statement On Viral Video
After the video went viral, the Mumbai airport released a statement, stating that the flight was diverted to the city due to "unfavourable weather conditions". "As the flight was already significantly delayed in Goa, passengers were irate and rushed out of the aircraft as soon as the step ladder was connected," the airport said. "The airport operators in coordination with CISF QRT cordoned off the passengers into a safety zone as passengers refused to get into the airline coach and proceed to the Terminal Building. Passengers were kept under the strict watch of the airline authorities and security until further actions were taken," it added.
Viral Video Draws Criticism, Witty Replies
The video drew a lot of criticism and witty responses on X (formerly Twitter). "They must have charged the passengers for this amazing under the sky, out-of-the-plane dining experience," a user commented. "The worst is they don’t inform the passengers in advance for the delay , they inform them in the airport when they can’t even go back and take rest at their homes," another said, accusing IndiGo of looting passengers.
What Did Disrupt Flight Operations?
A day after several flights were delayed especially in Delhi, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia blamed disruption in the operations on "unprecedented fog". "Yesterday, Delhi witnessed unprecedented fog wherein visibility fluctuated for several hours, and at times, dropped to zero between 5 AM to 9 AM. The authorities, therefore, were compelled to enforce a shut-down of operations for some time even on CAT III runways (CAT III runways cannot handle Zero-Visibility operations)," he said.
Scindia Announces Steps To Deal With Situation In Future
In order to tackle such situation in the future, Scindia announced that two important steps were being taken. "To mitigate the situation in the near future, following steps have been taken: @DelhiAirport has been asked to immediately expedite the operationalization of the CAT III-enabled 4th runway (in addition to the existing CAT III-enabled runway) to the satisfaction of the @DGCAIndia, in order to get approvals," he posted.
In addition to this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will issue Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for airlines to enhance communication and facilitate passengers during flight cancellations and delays attributed to adverse weather conditions, according to the minister.
