MANGALURU: A Dubai-bound Air India Express flight was delayed by more than 12 hours at the Mangaluru International Airport on Tuesday.
The Mangaluru-Dubai flight was scheduled to take off at 11.15 pm on Monday. But the flight did not take off at the scheduled time and the passengers were told that there is a ‘technical glitch’ in the flight and that it will be rectified soon.
A total of 161 passengers, who were on the flight, remained stranded at the airport the entire night. Seven others departed in other flights owing to the delay.
The passengers on board alleged that the airlines neither made any alternative arrangements nor were updating on the status of the flight.
When they did not get a convincing reply from the Air India Express staff, the passengers involved in an altercation with them.
Finally, an alternative flight was ferried from Thiruvananthapuram which took off at 12.10 pm Tuesday.
In a press statement, Air India Express said, “We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the delay of the Mangaluru-Dubai flight on July 10. Due to a progressive technical snag, the flight was delayed by over 12 hours and took off at 12.10 hrs today. However, to facilitate the journey, an alternative aircraft was arranged which was ferried from Thiruvananthapuram.”