HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed among air passengers to Hyderabad after a SpiceJet flight from Kolkata to Hyderabad (SG 752) was delayed by five hours, leaving the passengers stranded for over eight hours at the airport. The situation turned chaotic as many passengers were irked by the delay, forcing CISF personnel to intervene in the matter.
The flight was supposed to take off at 8.05 pm but only took off at 1.05 am from the Kolkata airport. This was after three reschedulings. In a statement to Express, the SpiceJet authorities said that the flight was delayed due to ‘operational problems’ while adding that passengers were offered refreshments during the delay and apologising for the inconvenience caused.
While follow-up question on details of ‘operational problem’ drew a blank from SpiceJet, sources said that the term is often used when the responsibility for the delay lies with the airport or air traffic. “If a flight misses a take-off slot, its number is pushed back to the end, and the flight has to wait again to get a vacant take-off slot.” However, the issue with SpiceJet is even more grave. A source said that the delays would continue till the airline gets new aircraft, which would take a month or two to materialise.