Flyers protest,IndiGo drops flight diversion

IndiGo Flight 6E136 from Kolkata to Pune via Ahmedabad left Kolkata at 11.15 am November 19 and landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport,Ahmedabad at 1 pm. After Ahmedabad-bound passengers disembarked,passengers continuing to Pune were asked to get down as their flight was to be diverted to Chennai owing to ‘operational difficulties’ and they would be put on another flight to Pune.

The 40-odd Pune-bound passengers refused to disembark despite requests from the IndiGo ground staff and even a plea from the captain,who explained that fog in Delhi had disrupted the schedule of all airlines. Among them was well-known Bollywood singer Abhijit Bhattacharya,who was on his way to Pune for a performance and who led this “Gandhian peaceful protest” from the front.

Pune corporator Mahesh Chandgude who was returning to Pune,said,“Passengers had not eaten since morning. What if someone with a medical condition had been affected.” He plans to write and complain to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

A similar situation was unfolding with passengers of IndiGo flight 6E238 from Jaipur. It landed in Ahmedabad at 12.30 pm and was to arrive in Chennai at 1.55 pm. Passengers were offloaded and told to disembark due to a ‘technical problem’. “They kept requesting us to wait for ‘just five minutes more…,” said Priya Singh,travelling alone with her infant son.

At 4.30 pm,the airline authorities announced flight 6E136 would go on to Pune,and continue to Chennai. Chennai-bound passengers boarded and the flight finally took off at 5 pm.

When contacted,Aditya Ghosh,IndiGo,President,said “Due to technical reasons,we had to change the aircraft routing. This certainly caused inconvenience to passengers. However,our effort was to get all the passengers to their desired destination,even with delays.”