Unruly fliers ‘hijack’ AI flight at city airport

Upset Over Delay, Stop Others From Leaving Plane For 15 Hours

Mumbai: It was a 15-hour nightmare on the ground for over 200 air passengers and flight crew at Mumbai airport thanks to the hijack-like situation forced upon them by a group of violent fliers.
    The unprecedented case of unruly passenger behaviour in the country came about when around 20 Air India passengers—who like hundreds of others found their flight diverted to Mumbai because of fog and technical glitches at Delhi airport—stopped their copassengers and 12 flight attendants from leaving the aircraft that was parked on the Mumbai tarmac from Saturday evening to Sunday morning.
    The union representing the cabin crew, who described the situation as being “akin to being taken hostage’’, complained to the directorategeneral of civil aviation after the flight landed at Delhi at 3.30 pm on Sunday. “It was akin to hijacking the aircraft. Ground power units had to be attached to the aircraft to provide air-conditioning throughout the night. The toilets were overflowing and some of the flight attendants broke out crying. These 20 passengers were seething with anger. They verbally abused and manhandled the cabin crew. It was a harrowing night for the 12 AI attendants,’’ Air India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA) general secretary Sanjay Lazar said. The AICCA has written to the DGCA.
    Eighteen flights of different airlines, including two AI New Delhi-bound flights from Jeddah and London, were diverted to Mumbai on Saturday because of poor weather conditions and technical glitches at the national capital’s airport.