Pune-Bound Flight Delayed for Over Five Hours Due to Pilot Unavailability
Pune, 17th January 2025: Over 200 passengers on flight AI-849 bound for Pune were stranded at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday for more than five hours due to the unavailability of pilots.
The flight, originally scheduled to depart at 3:55 PM, faced repeated delays, leaving passengers frustrated.
According to one flyer, the airline announced a delay at around 3:10 PM, rescheduling the departure to 5:00 PM. However, the flight did not take off as promised.
“After every announcement, they pushed the departure time by another 30 minutes. When I spoke to the ground staff, they revealed that the delay was due to the absence of pilots for the flight,” the passenger said.
Many flights were delayed on Wednesday because of dense fog in several cities, including Delhi. An airline representative explained, “The delay was a cascading effect of the fog, which disrupted multiple flights. This, in turn, impacted pilots, as they cannot exceed their regulated flying hours.”
The flight finally departed Delhi at around 9:10 PM and landed in Pune close to 11:00 PM, significantly later than the scheduled arrival time of 6:05 PM.
Passengers expressed frustration over the lack of timely updates and the inconvenience caused by the delay.
