Mumbai-Bound IndiGo Flight Delayed By 3 Hours After Pilot Falls 'Sick'

A Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight from Varanasi was delayed by three hours and a half on Thursday after the pilot scheduled to operate it suddenly "reported sick", following which the airline made alternative arrangements, sources said.

Flight 6E-6544 was scheduled to fly from the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport to Mumbai.

Airport Director Puneet Gupta said the flight was delayed by three hours and a half due to technical reasons and was later operated to Mumbai. He denied reports of passengers creating a ruckus at the airport.

The airline, however, said the delay occurred after the pilot assigned to the flight suddenly called in sick.

"This led us to make alternative arrangements and rush in another pilot who later flew the plane," a source in the airline told PTI over the phone.

Another source said, "The pilot who replaced the sick pilot came from Ahmedabad as Varanasi is not our base station. The flight was delayed by three hours and a half." "Since alternative arrangements had to be made, this caused some delay, but then the passengers were informed of the reasons and served refreshments," the source added.

The plane eventually departed for Mumbai after the alternative arrangements were made.

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