New Delhi: Late-running flight crews have caused hours of delay at the Delhi Airport, with passengers on Yangon-bound Air India flight waiting for more than an hour for the aircraft to take off due to non availability of the crew.
According to Air India, the flight got delayed by almost two hours.
Similarly, a Delhi-Mumbai flight got delayed by almost five hours as the staff never turned up. Later, Air India asked another set of crew to operate the flight.
A senior Air India official said: “Flight AI-235 was going to Yangon and was scheduled to take off at 7.10 am. Passengers were boarded but the management came to know that few crew members have not reached the airport.
“After almost an hour, when crew members couldn’t reach, the management decided to rope in other crew members so that flight could depart. Finally, this flight took off around 9.15am, with a delay of almost two hours.”
Meanwhile, another connecting flight scheduled to take off for Mumbai, which was supposed to reach Delhi from Shanghai, didn’t arrive due to a ‘technical snag’.
Passengers of this Dreamliner flight then started protesting, as they were told that extra crew members are not available.
Officials posted at Indira Gandhi International airport said passengers also shouted slogans against Air India. Later, the airline's management requested other crew members to operate the flight.
“A flight which was supposed to reach Mumbai from Shanghai via Delhi didn’t come due to a technical snag. It took almost five hours to arrange other crew members. Passengers had to wait for hours due to which they started protesting,” sources said.
Last month, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu got angry with the national carrier after he had to cancel his visit to Hyderabad following a flight delay.
Naidu, who was slated to fly Air India to the southern state for an official engagement, had to miss it because the pilot of the flight AI544 didn’t turn up on time.
