BHUBANESWAR: Passengers of an Air India Express flight from Bhubaneswar to Pune had a terrible experience after their flight was cancelled following a lengthy delay reportedly caused by a technical glitch on Thursday evening.
The flight which was supposed to take off at 5.40 pm was delayed by over two hours. Subsequently, it was cancelled. Some passengers were accommodated in another Air India flight to Mumbai, the rest had to wait till Friday.
“After boarding, we were told that the flight was delayed due to technical issues. We were then asked to deboard and later informed that the flight was cancelled,” said a frustrated passenger. There were 180 passengers on board.
Some passengers claimed they were deboarded and left stranded on the aerobridge. “Air India Express Bhubaneswar-Pune flight asked passengers to deboard due to a technical glitch. All passengers were stranded on an aerobridge and the airlines did not share any information,” posted a passenger on X.
According to Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) officials, the pilot apparently noticed the smoke indicator inside cockpit and immediately asked the engineers to look into the matter. The engineers examined the plane and informed the pilot that it was safe to take off, sources said.
“However, the pilot wanted in writing from the engineers that there was no technical issue in the plane, after which the engineers rechecked the plane. The passengers were then asked to deboard which delayed the departure by over two hours,” said BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan.
The Air India Express flight was delayed and eventually cancelled. While some passengers left in a Mumbai bound flight, other passenger’s journey to Pune was rescheduled on Friday.