Mumbai A Dubai-bound Air India Express flight IX-247 from Mumbai was delayed by more than seven hours due to technical issues leaving 175 passengers stranded at the airport.
The flight, scheduled to depart from Mumbai for Dubai at 3.15pm, could not take off. “Mumbai-Dubai flight was rescheduled due to technical issues. We have arranged another aircraft and all passengers and cargo have been shifted to this plane. The flight is boarding and is scheduled to depart Mumbai in the next 30 minutes (11.20 pm),” said a spokesperson for Air India Express said around 10.45pm.
Flightradar24.com, a global live flight monitoring website, showed that after boarding IX-247 taxied towards the runway but returned to the bay before it could roll on to the runway for a take-off.
Saurabh Chodankar, whose 66-year-old father Arun Chodankar was on the flight, said the Air India Express flight was rescheduled to 6pm but after it taxied towards the runway, it was stopped on the ramp and left stranded there.
“For close to three hours, the passengers were inside the aircraft which was stranded on the ramp. No food or water was provided. With the engine and air conditioning switched off, the passengers complained suffocation. But the airline did not respond. My father, a diabetic, was in bad shape till the aircraft was brought back and passengers allowed to get off the aircraft,” Chodankar said.
“It was a ramp return. Passengers were brought back from the bay to another aircraft,” the spokesperson added.
(With inputs from Yogesh Naik)
Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiiQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oaW5kdXN0YW50aW1lcy5jb20vY2l0aWVzL211bWJhaS1uZXdzL2Fpci1pbmRpYS1leHByZXNzLW11bWJhaS1kdWJhaS1mbGlnaHQtZGVsYXllZC1kdWUtdGVjaG5pY2FsLWlzc3Vlcy0xMDE2NzIxNjk4MDAyNzIuaHRtbNIBjQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5oaW5kdXN0YW50aW1lcy5jb20vY2l0aWVzL211bWJhaS1uZXdzL2Fpci1pbmRpYS1leHByZXNzLW11bWJhaS1kdWJhaS1mbGlnaHQtZGVsYXllZC1kdWUtdGVjaG5pY2FsLWlzc3Vlcy0xMDE2NzIxNjk4MDAyNzItYW1wLmh0bWw?oc=5
