Pune: An Air India flight to Delhi was delayed by over five hours on Tuesday morning because of a technical issue and more than 150 passengers on board spent an hour-and-a-half sitting inside the stationary aircraft — an Airbus A-321.The flight (AI 2470) was scheduled to take off from Pune at 7.40am and land in Delhi at 9.55am. The aircraft was finally airborne at 12.50pm and reached Delhi around 2.30pm.TOI sent a WhatsApp message to an Air India spokesperson seeking an official comment on the flight’s delay, but a reply was awaited till going to press. A source in the airline said a technical problem, followed by a NOTAM (notice to airmen) at the airport from 10am and 11.30am, delayed the flight.Most of the flyers booked on the Pune-Delhi flight had reached the airport by 5am. “The boarding started around 7am and all flyers were in their seats by 7.20am. The aircraft started taxiing towards the runway around 7.30am, but stopped after a while. It returned to the bay after some time,” a flyer said.“We were told that there was a technical issue, but the crew didn’t expand on it. We just kept sitting in the aircraft. After some time, a few flyers protested and they were allowed to deboard. Others hoped that the technical glitch would be resolved and remained seated. Around 9.30 am, the crew said all flyers would have to deboard the plane,” the flyer said.Flyers were asked to board the plane again around 12.20pm. The aircraft took off about half-an-hour later. Another flyer booked on the delayed plane, requesting anonymity, said, “I cancelled my travel plan because the whole point of going to Delhi was defeated because of the delay. Many others had onward connections from Delhi, important meetings or visa appointments. The delay spoiled everyone’s plans,” he said.A source said some of the flyers were forced to book last-minute tickets at exorbitant prices so that they could reach Delhi on time.
