NEW DELHI: Over 250 passengers of a Jet Airways Toronto-bound flight via its European gateway Brussels were stranded for about nine hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here today due to "non-availability" of a reserve pilot, a source said.
The flight 9W-230 was scheduled to take off for Brussels at 3 AM this morning but it could depart only around 12 noon after Jet Airways managed to get the third pilot for the stranded plane, the source said.
"Jet Airways informed the passengers that their flight was not departing due to non-availability of a reserve pilot," he claimed.
A Jet Airways official however said the flight initially was delayed because of technical reasons and then the flight duty time limitations of the crew came into effect.
Under the DGCA regulations, flight crew cannot operate beyond particular duty timings.