Over 150 Pune-bound SpiceJet flyers spend 2 hours on aircraft, land over 4 hours late

PUNE: Over 150 flyers of SpiceJet's Pune-Delhi evening service were deboarded from a Boeing 737 aircraft in the national capital after sitting inside for more than two hours amid confusion and later reached the city on the same plane at 11.15pm on Wednesday, over four hours behind the schedule.The flight (SG-938) was scheduled to depart from Delhi at 4.45pm and reach Pune at 6.55pm. A flyer, requesting anonymity, said the boarding happened around 4pm after the take-off time was advanced to 4.30pm."The aircraft didn't move for a long time after the boarding was completed. In the absence of any information, flyers started to lose patience. Some passengers were told that a technical problem was being looked into. It was hot inside the aircraft but no one cared," the flyer said.The passengers were finally deboarded from the aircraft around 6.40pm. "The boarding happened again around 9.10pm and the flight finally took off around 9.30pm," the flyer said.The airline confirmed the incident. "SpiceJet flight SG 938, operating from Delhi to Pune, was delayed because of a technical issue. Initial troubleshooting was carried out with passengers on board. As it took longer than expected, all passengers were deboarded. The air-conditioning remained operational throughout. Some passengers may have experienced discomfort because of prevailing weather conditions in Delhi. The flight departed once the issue was resolved," a SpiceJet spokesperson toldTOI.The flyer wrote, "The airline might claim anything, but it was hot inside the aircraft"