VIJAYAWADA: Inauguration of the direct flight between Vijayawada and Kuwait started on a chaotic note as 18 passengers missed their flight on Wednesday. The Air India Express flight bound to Kuwait from Gannavaram International Airport left four hours before the scheduled time (mentioned in the ticket), leaving passengers stranded.
While the passengers alleged that they were not informed of the change in time of the flight’s departure, the ground staff at the airport maintained that e-mails and messages were sent to all passengers regarding the advancement of flight time to 9:55 am. It may be noted that Air India Express launched a weekly direct flight from Vijayawada to Kuwait on Wednesdays.
According to passengers, the flight, scheduled to depart at 1:10 pm, took off from Gannavaram airport around 9:40 am with 67 passengers on board. The remaining passengers, who arrived at the Gannavaram airport hours after the flight took off, were shocked to learn that they had missed their flight. They approached the airline staff and demanded to be accommodated in an alternate fight to reach their destination.
“Passengers who missed the flight might have booked the ticket through an agent who might have failed to share the information with them,” airport officials suspected. Gannavaram airport director M Lakshmikanth Reddy said, “Alternative flights were provided to some passengers, while ticket fare was refunded to some.” Officials of Air India Express at the airport terminal were unavailable for a comment.