NEW DELHI: In a bizarre instance of flight delay, an Indigo flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai on Thursday took off 37 minutes later than scheduled as one of its pilots could not report for duty on time.
The First Officer landed late for work as he was operating another flight to Mumbai, which reached the airport late.
Flight 6E 5099 was scheduled to leave at 2.25 pm from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. It finally took off by 3.02 pm, reveals flight tracking platform, flightstats.com.
An Indigo source said, “The First Officer, who got delayed, was actually on duty flying another flight. He was to catch this flight after completing that trip. Since that flight got delayed, he arrived late for the Hyderabad-Mumbai flight. Arranging another pilot will involve much time as the roster (duty chart) is prepared well in advance. Hence, we decided to wait for this pilot only."
Irate passengers took to social media to vent their anger. Elaborating on the general system in place for any airline before flight departures, the Federation of Indian Pilots president Captain CS Randhawa said, "The cockpit crew is generally expected to report for duty an hour in advance. The cabin crew is expected to report even earlier. The Pilot-in- Command carries out a quick briefing with all the staff who will travel on board before the flight takes off." The flight cannot take off if either of the pilots have not reached, he added.
Similar instances of pilots not reporting for duty on time, again involving Indigo flights, have taken place in the past too. Two such incidents occurred at Bengaluru on December 23, 2022, due to extra traffic jams on the roads during the festive season An announcement was even made on board one of the flights about the jam.
Fliight no. 6E 869 from Bengaluru to Delhi, scheduled to depart from Kempegowda International Airport at 12 noon, departed 81 minutes later. Indigo flight 6E 6104 from Bengaluru to Pune was delayed by an hour as the pilot was stuck in traffic. Passenger Aditya Wagle tweeted then: “Legendary Bengaluru traffic strikes again. This time the pilot is stuck in traffic and passengers are in the plane waiting for him. Can’t believe they don’t have back-ups #FaultTolerance??” Kushboo, another flyer, had posted, "After boarding, there is an announcement inside Indigo flight 6E 6104 that the pilot is stuck in traffic, flight delayed."
Indore to Delhi flight was also delayed yesterday
Meanwhile, a flight from Indore to Delhi was delayed by over two hours on Thursday (Oct 9) as the incoming flight had arrived late, an Indigo source added.
Flyer Neeraj Gupta posted on X: "Flight no. 6E 6752 late by more than two hours. No one to help at Indore airport.” Another passenger tweeted, "You guys are such a shame....You have been just changing gates and keeping people waiting. There are senior citizens and even heart patients and diabetic people. What a bad experience."
