At least 100 Istanbul-bound passengers of an IndiGo flight were stranded at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport due to a 16-hour delay caused by a technical glitch, on Saturday.
IndiGo, however, apologised for the inconvenience.
Flight 6E17 was scheduled to depart for Istanbul at 6:55am. The airline later announced an alternative aircraft would be arranged, and the flight eventually took off at 11pm.
“We regret that our flight 6E17, originally scheduled to operate from Mumbai to Istanbul, faced a delay due to technical issues. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to rectify the issue and dispatch it to the destination, we eventually had to cancel the flight,” it said in a statement in the evening.
“An alternate aircraft has been arranged and is now scheduled to depart at 2300 hrs. We want to assure our customers that their safety and comfort remain our top priorities,” it added.
Sources said the flight was delayed at least thrice. The passengers were made to board and deboard the aircraft accordingly, before they were informed about the final departure time, they added.
Several passengers, mostly comprising students, staged a protest at the airport, demanding that the airline either issue a refund or arrange an alternate flight, the sources said.
They also took to social media to complain about the long delay.
“My brother has been stuck at the Mumbai International Airport for more than 12 hours due to extremely unprofessional behavior by @IndiGo6E and their staff. He had a flight to Istanbul which 1st got delayed, then he was made to board and de-board again twice!!,” Sonam Saigal, an X user, said.
“The staff is extremely rude and refuse to answer any questions about rescheduling and refund. There are 492 other passengers waiting for any basic communication from the @IndiGo6E staff. Highly disappointing behaviour…” she added.
Another user, Sachin Chintalwad, expressed concerns that he may miss his connecting flight to Washington from Istanbul due to the delay.
“Dear indigo this is not fair… Now it’s 5 hr. Delay (sic) for 6E 17 from mumbai to Istanbul. And i have connecting flight from Istanbul to IAD Washington and I’m going to miss that. Next flight also operated by indigo… Please suggest what to do,” he said.
Biresh Kumar Singh, another passenger, complained: “Flight to Istanbul 6E17 scheduled for 6:55 am yet to take off from Mumbai , passengers being moved to and from from a aerobridge to waiting area , staff clueless on what’s happening and when will the flight take off – pathetic service, taking passengers for granted.”