Air India Flight Delayed 20 Hours; Passengers Faint from No A/C

Journalist Shweta Punj shared in a post on X that flight No. AI 183 was delayed by more than eight hours. She added that passengers were made to board the plane and sit without air conditioning at Delhi airport.

New Delhi: A passenger on an Air India flight claimed that several people fainted inside the aircraft, which lacked air conditioning, following a delay of over eight hours on Thursday. The flight to San Francisco, initially scheduled for departure yesterday afternoon, is now set to leave at 11 am today, after a delay of more than 20 hours.

On Thursday, journalist Shweta Punj posted on X that flight No. AI 183 was delayed by over eight hours, and passengers were made to board the plane and sit without air conditioning at Delhi airport. She added that passengers were eventually told to exit the aircraft after some had fainted.

Delhi is experiencing a severe heatwave, with temperatures reaching a record 52.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

"If there is a privatisation story that has failed, it is Air India. The DGCA [aviation regulator] AI 183 flight was delayed for over eight hours. Passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning and then deplaned after some people fainted. This is inhuman," Ms. Punj said in her post on X, tagging Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The Air India X handle responded to her: "Dear Ms. Punj, we truly regret to note the disruptions. Please be rest assured that our team is actively working to address the delay and appreciate your ongoing support and understanding. We are also alerting our team to provide necessary assistance to the passengers."

Another passenger, Abhishek Sharma, appealed to the airline for swift action and requested that his parents and "numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area [be allowed] to go home."

"AI 183 is over eight hours late. People were made to board the plane and sit without AC. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done," Mr. Sharma said in a post on X.

The Air India X bot handle replied to Mr. Sharma with the same message it responded to Ms. Punj: "Dear Ms. Punj, we truly regret to note the disruptions. Please be rest assured that our team is actively working to address the delay and appreciate your ongoing support and understanding. We are also alerting our team to provide necessary assistance to the passengers."

Visuals posted by many other passengers show people, including children, sitting on the floor, with some having taken off their shoes. They appear exhausted.

In January, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued guidelines to handle chaotic situations after a huge rush was seen due to fog at Delhi airport. The DGCA's standard operating procedure (SOP) for "facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights, and delays in flights" stated that airlines may cancel flights likely to be delayed or "consequentially delayed" beyond three hours. The DGCA had mandated that all airlines must follow the SOP immediately.

Source: NDTV