7-hour delay of Pune-Goa IndiGo flight upends many travellers’ plans

Pune: More than 100 passengers travelling to Goa on an IndiGo flight on Monday found themselves stranded for nearly seven hours — first inside the aircraft and later at the airport — after the aircraft returned to the bay while taxiing towards the runway due to a technical snag.The flight (6E-6944) was scheduled to take off at 5.25am and land in Goa at 6.30am. It finally left Pune at 12.30pm.Baner resident Rajesh Shetty told TOI he had meticulously planned his day around the early morning flight. “My plan was to reach Goa early, rest for a while and then head out for meetings with clients. I reached the airport around 3am and the ground staff told us the flight was on time. Boarding began soon after, and was completed by 5am. The aircraft started taxiing towards the runway but soon stopped moving, turned back and returned to the bay. The pilot announced that there was a technical issue,” Shetty said.According to Shetty, passengers remained inside the aircraft from 5.15am till nearly 7.30am with little clarity on the situation. “The ground staff only told us that engineers were trying to fix the issue. Beyond that, there was hardly any communication. Many passengers, including me, still hoped that the problem would be resolved and the flight would depart soon. However, around 7.30am, we were suddenly asked to disembark. When we sought an explanation, we were told the technical issue would take more time to be rectified,” he said.An airline spokesperson confirmed the problem. “A technical snag was noticed before take-off on the aircraft operating IndiGo flight 6E-6944, from Pune International Airport to Manohar International Airport, Goa. The aircraft had returned to the parking bay and while it was undergoing necessary checks, an alternate aircraft was arranged to operate the flight. We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers and made every effort to minimise it by offering refreshments and sharing regular updates with them,” the spokesperson told TOI.Another passenger, requesting anonymity, said, “I had taken just two days off and planned to spend the morning at the beach before the heat became unbearable later in the day. Losing an entire day because of this is extremely frustrating.”Passengers were later escorted back to the terminal building and asked to wait. “After some time, refreshments were served, but many passengers were upset as their travel plans had been severely disrupted. About an hour later, airline staff informed us that the flight would now depart at 12.30pm because there was a NOTAM in place at the airport till 11.30am. We completed security checks again and returned to the SHA. The flight finally departed at 12.30pm and landed in Goa around 1.30pm. My entire schedule was thrown completely off track because of the delay,” Shetty added.