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New Delhi: Many people took the early morning SpiceJet flight from Pune to Delhi, hoping to reach their destination early. They boarded the plane, SG-937 on Thursday early morning and dozed off. However after they woke up from their nap, after almost 1.5 hours, they found themselves still at the tarmac of the Pune airport.

Flight delayed by 7 hours due to ‘technical glitch’

The SpiceJet flight, SG-937 was supposed to take off from Pune for Delhi at 5:55 am on Thursday morning. It was to land in Delhi at 8:30 am. One of the passengers onboard the flight was quoted by the Times of India as saying, “We boarded the plane by 6:15 am and since it was an early morning flight, most passengers dozed off. The pilot however announced that it would take another 10 minutes for the plane to take off, due to a technical glitch. When I woke up after 1.5 hours, I found that we were still in Pune, with the plane on the tarmac.”

Another passenger complained that the plane was supposed to land in Delhi at 8:30 am, and if the flight was delayed, the crew should have informed the passengers. They were supposed to ask us to deboard before the landing time, but they just left us inside the plane, he said. The cabin crew asked us to deboard the flight, after we waited inside for more than 2 hours, he added.

The flight was delayed by 7 hours, said one of the passengers. They criticised the SpiceJet crew and management for having defeated the very purpose of an early morning flight.

Utter confusion at Pune terminal: Passengers

The passengers were made to deboard the flight after having waited inside for close to 2 hours. One of the passengers complained that after they were deplaned, utter confusion prevailed at the Pune airport.

All passengers were taken to the arrival area. The passengers were made to wait without any refreshments being provided by the airlines. Some of the ground staff of the airlines then said that the flight will be cancelled, said one of the passengers. This led to protests from the passengers. One of the passengers said, “No one from the airlines offered us even a bottle of water, let alone food. After all this they finally told us that the flight would take off at 11:30 am.”

The passengers had to complete the check in and security process again, before boarding the flight at 11:30 am, said another passenger. They finally boarded at 12:340 pm and the plane took off at 12:45 pm. The flight landed in Delhi at 2:30 pm.

SpiceJet statement on flight delay

Meanwhile, SpiceJet blamed the delay of over 7 hours on a “technical glitch”. A company spokesperson said, “SpiceJet flight SG 937, scheduled to operate from Pune to Delhi, was delayed due to a last-minute technical issue and further impacted by a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) at Pune. As the rectification took longer than initially anticipated, all passengers were deplaned. The flight subsequently departed and landed in Delhi. The inconvenience caused to passengers is regretted.”