The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a notice to SpiceJet Airways seeking a detailed report over an incident where the Bengaluru-bound passengers had to wait for over an hour at the aerobridge at Delhi airport on January 10, said officials on Thursday.

However, the airline in its statement said that the delay was due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit. “SpiceJet flight SG 8133 (Delhi-Bengaluru) dated 10 January 2023 was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft’s previous rotation. As a result, the incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru the and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation,” SpiceJet spokesperson said.

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Further, the airline spokesperson said that on average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport while on this particular flight, the turnaround time was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time.

“As passengers had completed the security check they were requested to wait at the aerobridge. All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers,” the spokesperson added.

One of the passengers had also shared a video on social media of many co-passengers waiting at the aerobridge. In a video, some of the passengers were heard asking for water.

“I understand that sometimes flight gets delayed. But making the passengers cross the Boarding gate, then closing the flight gates and not letting your passengers go beyond any of these 2 ways, and locking them up in the middle is not cool,” the passenger wrote on Instagram along with the video.

“When passengers asked to open the boarding gate so that they can rest back at the waiting area, the authorities denied it and went missing, when senior citizens asked for water because they were locked in there for more than an hour and had no water, the authorities didn’t give them water and told them to ask for water in the flight once the gates are open.

And when people asked them on how much tentative time would it take for that- they had no answer. Who treats their customers like this?” the passenger added.