Kozhikode: The Karipur airport on Sunday witnessed high drama after 10 passengers of Air India flight (AI 937) from Karipur to Dubai refused to travel in the aircraft which had developed a technical snag even after the engineers rectified it and certified the aircraft fit for flying.
According to airline officials, the pilot detected a technical snag (oil leak) when the aircraft with 143 passengers on board was being pushed back from the apron to the runway before the take-off run.
The pilot brought the aircraft back to the bay at 12.54pm and the passengers on board were communicated that there would be a delay in view of the technical snag and were served their lunch.
Even though the engineers rectified the snag and cleared the aircraft for flying at 1.40pm, a group of passengers came out of the aircraft and assembled on the tarmac and said they don’t want to fly in the same aircraft due to safety concerns.
“As many as 10 passengers remained adamant about not flying in the aircraft saying they feared for their safety. They demanded that a new aircraft be brought for the service which was impractical as the aircraft was certified fit for flying. Even the direct assurances made by the pilot-in-command that there was nothing to worry failed to convince the passengers,” a senior Air India official said.
Officials said that the flight had to be delayed by over one-and-a-half hours even after the rectification of the technical snag as they had to find out the eight pieces of luggage of the 10 passengers who decided not to travel. Raza Ali Khan, station manager of Air India, said that the flight finally took off to Dubai at 3.30pm with 133 passengers. The 10 doubting passengers stayed back and their luggage was offloaded.
21/10/19 Times of India
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According to airline officials, the pilot detected a technical snag (oil leak) when the aircraft with 143 passengers on board was being pushed back from the apron to the runway before the take-off run.
The pilot brought the aircraft back to the bay at 12.54pm and the passengers on board were communicated that there would be a delay in view of the technical snag and were served their lunch.
Even though the engineers rectified the snag and cleared the aircraft for flying at 1.40pm, a group of passengers came out of the aircraft and assembled on the tarmac and said they don’t want to fly in the same aircraft due to safety concerns.
“As many as 10 passengers remained adamant about not flying in the aircraft saying they feared for their safety. They demanded that a new aircraft be brought for the service which was impractical as the aircraft was certified fit for flying. Even the direct assurances made by the pilot-in-command that there was nothing to worry failed to convince the passengers,” a senior Air India official said.
Officials said that the flight had to be delayed by over one-and-a-half hours even after the rectification of the technical snag as they had to find out the eight pieces of luggage of the 10 passengers who decided not to travel. Raza Ali Khan, station manager of Air India, said that the flight finally took off to Dubai at 3.30pm with 133 passengers. The 10 doubting passengers stayed back and their luggage was offloaded.
21/10/19 Times of India
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