NEW DELHI: Thursday witnessed massive delays departures of flights across airlines from New Delhi due to a weird reason – pilots and cabin crew across airlines were unable to reach in time due to heavy road traffic.
Heavy downpour for hours followed by waterlogged roads made the traffic inch along. In some instances, passengers too reached the Indira Gandhi international airport late and missed their flights.
A source familiar with the developments said that a Spicejet flight from Delhi to Bagdogra (Flight no 914) was delayed by over three hours.
“One of the cockpit crew members could not reach on time due to the heavy traffic encountered. Since the flight cannot be operated without both operating crew members, the flight was delayed by three hours,” the source said.
The flight took off only at 6.18 pm from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (instead of the scheduled time of 3.10 pm). It reached Bagdogra at 8.55 pm only, he said.
Akasa Air said two departing flights suffered delays from Delhi to Mumbai - QP 1411 and QP 1972 - were delayed by over 40 minutes. “The delays were caused due to the cabin crew reaching the airport late. The same happened to some passengers too. Our staff were waiting at the entrance and helping them to clear the security checks on priority,” said an airline source.
An Air India Express spokesperson said, “There were no significant delays reported for Air India Express. However, the crew found it difficult to reach in some cases due to heavy rain.”
Delhi airport posted on X, "Due to heavy rainfall and waterlogging across the Delhi-NCR region, road traffic to and from Delhi airport has been observed to be slower than usual.“
It added, “We recommend passengers consider alternative modes of transportation such as the Delhi Metro” Indigo too put out an advisory urging passengers to head to the airport a bit earlier than usual due to heavier than usual traffic.
Indigo was unable to share any information despite asking it repeatedly about it and sought more time to get back. Air india too is yet to respond with details on its delayed flights.