SpiceJet Flight Delayed For 7 Hours In Delhi, Passengers Confront Staff

Passengers travelling on a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Patna created a nuisance, confronting the airline staff at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday after the flight got delayed for 7 hours.

"Today at about 3:10 pm, it came to notice that a group of passengers bound for Patna by SpiceJet airline flight no. SG-8721/STD were creating a nuisance at the domestic boarding gate 54. On query, it was learnt that the flight was delayed for more than 7 hrs as the incoming flight arrived. On this, the group got frustrated and started creating a nuisance with airlines' staff," the Airport Authority said.

The same was informed to the boarding gate-in-charge (B/G I/C) who, along with thQuick Response Team (QRT) responded at the location and pacified the matter," it added.

However, SpiceJet said that the passengers were informed earlier about the revised departure time so that passengers could accordingly plan their travel.

"Today's SpiceJet Delhi-Patna flight SG 8721 has already landed at its destination. The flight's departure had been revised last night and passengers had been duly informed about the revised departure time at 12.40 a.m. last night itself so that they could accordingly plan their travel to the airport," SpiceJet said.

Meanwhile, India's air traffic is expected to rise by about 15 per cent to 155 million passengers in 2023-24, despite the grounding of Go First, according to aviation advisory and research firm CAPA India.

This projection is in line with the firm's March 2023 estimate.

Despite the sudden exit of Go First in May this year, the fact that there are 150+ aircraft still on the ground, and the worsening supply chain issues (in contrast to the improvement that was expected), domestic traffic in India has shown resilience, the advisory firm said in its latest aviation outlook report.

"As of now, Indian carriers have around 150+ aircraft on the ground, largely due to supply chain and other issues," the report said.

This could cross 200 aircraft by the end of March 2024.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)