Air India’s Riyadh flight delayed by over eight hrs

An Air India flight to Riyadh was delayed by more than eight hours on Monday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. As a result, more than 350 passengers waited at the transit lounge since Monday morning.

Airport sources said the passengers arrived two hours before the flight was to take off, but were not provided with any information from the airline. Air India flight 821 was to take off around 2.40 pm on Monday. The aircraft had come in from Mumbai and was to fly to Riyadh after a halt at the IGI airport.

“The transit lounge at the international terminal looked like a bus stand. The 350 passengers were not informed about the take-off time and they had started trickling at the airport since 10 am,” said an airport source.

Though the passengers were issued boarding passes around 11 am on Monday, they were made to wait for more than eight hours. Till the time of filing of this report, the flight had not taken off. Passengers complained all through the day no airline official could be reached for assistance.

“The passengers had been handed over the boarding passes in the morning itself. However on Monday night, serpentine queues were witnessed at the check in counters and later at the immigration counters,” said the official.