NEW DELHI: An Air India Express (AIX) flyer from Srinagar landed at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday (July 30) after he forgot to alight at Delhi airport from his flight. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) will investigate the incident. The passenger was flying from Srinagar to Bagdogra (in West Bengal) and was supposed to alight at Delhi to switch to another flight to Bagdogra.
A source said, “The young male flyer had probably dozed off when the flight landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. We make repeated announcements before any flight is landing at its destination. So, the explanation as of now looks like he had overslept.”
There were some passengers on the way to Bagdogra seated in the same flight, and so it did not raise any eyebrows. The flyer woke up much later and informed the crew about it, the source added.
The flyer’s luggage had already been offloaded at Delhi. “He owned up to the mistake and profusely apologised for it to the crew,” the source said. AIX flew him back to Delhi.
“He reached Delhi around 8 pm, and then we again put him on a flight to Bagdogra airport,” the source added.
An internal inquiry is being done by the airline too over the lapse. “The airline security had missed doing a headcount of all seated passengers before it took off on the leg from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, which is mandatory. This needed to be done before the fresh set of passengers boarded the flight at Delhi airport. So, there is a security lapse on our part too,” the source informed.
An AIX spokesperson said, “A guest transiting through Delhi inadvertently continued on the aircraft onwards to Bhubaneswar. An internal investigation is being conducted to address lapses, while reiterating SOPs and internal briefings across stations to prevent recurrence.”