BENGALURU: The captains of two domestic IndiGo flights reached the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) late on Friday, delaying flights and creating difficulties for passengers. Passengers from Bengaluru to both New Delhi and Pune were impacted. Air passengers said that IndiGo made an on-board announcement that traffic snarls were to be blamed for the captains reporting to duty late. They all seemed to have believed it also.
However, top traffic officials firmly denied it and said that there were no traffic jams in the city on Friday.
The IndiGo flight from Bengaluru to New Delhi departed 81 mins late with around 180 passengers waiting for the arrival of the captains. Flight no. 6E 869 was scheduled to depart from KIA at noon and reach the IGI Airport at 2.50 pm, but it departed at 1.21 pm, and landed at 4.07 pm, a delay of 77 minutes.
Daxshin, a passenger, tweeted around 1 pm: “Enjoying Bangalore’s salubrious climate sitting inside Indigo 6E 869 BLR-DEL flight to have departed at 12. Delayed by one hour, and counting. Reason: Captain stuck in Bangalore’s traffic jam!!! (sic)”
The Pune flight with around 180 passengers, scheduled to depart at 11.25 pm took off 51 minutes later. Kushboo, on board the flight to Pune, tweeted: Started at 6.30 am from Outer Ring Road to avoid holiday rush for 11.40 flight. After boarding, there is announcement in Indigo flight 6E 6104 that the pilot is stuck in traffic, flight delayed by an hour.” Aditya Wagle tweeted: “Legendary Bengaluru traffic strikes again. This time the pilot is stuck in traffic and passengers are in the plane waiting for him.”
IndiGo regretted and put out a standard response on its official handle: “We try our best to fly on time, however, sometimes due to the uncertain nature of our operating factors, flight schedule changes get unavoidable. Our team is trying its best to get your to your destination ASAP.”
MA Saleem, Special Commissioner, Traffic, ruled out the explanation. He told TNIE, “There were no traffic issues reported anywhere today. Which roads did the pilots take? Over the last one month, traffic jams have reduced across the city.” Kuldeep Kumar R Jain, DCP Traffic, West, and Kala Krishnaswamy, DCP Traffic, East also clarified that there were no issues at all on Friday. Sachin Ghorpade, DCP Traffic, North, said, “The roads did not have traffic, and it was all smooth through the morning.” Kuldip Kumar also ruled out any jams in his area. “Pilots are expected to report an hour early for duty. They should have reported before time even if there was a 15-minute delay,” he said.IndiGo is yet to respond to the questions sent to it until 9.25 pm.