Flights go here, there, haywire

Patna: Around 40-odd passengers boarded the GoAir’s Lucknow-Delhi flight this morning. But they were shocked to find themselves at the Patna airport around 9.30am. They were at their wit’s end when the airline’s employees asked them to alight to accommodate Delhi-bound Haj passengers. After their vociferous protest, the airline officials relented.
But that “robbed off” the plane of 140-odd passengers of GoAir’s Patna-Delhi-Mumbai flight. It was used to fly the Haj passengers.
The passengers of the GoAir’s Patna-Delhi-Mumbai plane were herded into the Lucknow-Delhi flight that took a detour. After reaching Delhi, the Mumbai-bound passengers had to change the aircraft. They reached their destination in the evening, hours behind the schedule. Sources said the private airline brought their Lucknow-Delhi flight here to accommodate Haj passengers, stranded at the Patna airport from the previous night. The late night flight supposed to ferry the Haj pilgrims did not operate yesterday due to poor visibility. The move of the private airline triggered vociferous protest from the Delhi-bound passengers. They started shouting at the airline’s employees at the Patna airport. Some of them went to the office of the airport manager only to be told that Airports Authority of India (AAI) had no role in it.
Sensing trouble, the airline’s employees informed the passengers that they would go to Delhi in the same aircraft.
In the meantime, the airline sent the Haj passengers to Delhi in the Patna-Delhi-Mumbai aircraft.
23/10/10 Sanjeev Verma/The Telegraph

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Categories: airports Oct 2010, GoAir Oct 2010