AI passengers protest onboard
Passengers of an Air India flight, bound for Tiruchy, staged a sit-in on board at the Chennai airport on Saturday afternoon after the officials refused to operate the aircraft to their destination.
According to airport sources, the Air India Express flight, bound for Tiruchy, arrived in Chennai around 11 am from Kuala Lumpur with 156 passengers. Even as 82 passengers alighted at the airport, the remaining 74 passengers, bound for Tiruchy, waited onboard.
After about an hour, a few airline officials approached the passengers and informed them that the service to Tiruchy has been temporarily suspended due to technical defect in the aircraft. They also assured that the passengers would be transported by bus.
Enraged over this, the passengers got into an argument with the staff and refused to disembark. They demanded that the management operate a spare flight to Tiruchy and shouted slogans against the airliner.
Since the airline staff refused to give in, the passengers withdrew their protest and got off the aircraft after about three hours. However, the management provided lunch to the passengers at the airport.
Subsequently, two AC buses departed with the disgruntled passengers around 2.30 pm.
Airline officials told DC, “The spare aircraft of the airlines was stuck in Singapore owing to a major technical failure.”
They also apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience.
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