Flight diversions cause misery to passengers

Around 40 flights, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Air Force Boeing 737 were diverted from Delhi airport on Sunday night. Modi was returning to the national Capital after addressing a public meeting in Devangere, Karnataka. His flight was diverted to Jaipur as heavy duststorm and rain lashed the city on Sunday evening. Many other flights scheduled for Delhi’s IGI Airport were diverted to nearby airports. Some 27 flights have been diverted to other airports due to bad weather,” an airport official said. Out of the 27 flights diverted, six were of Air India, the airlines sources informed.

According to the sources, the airlines urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to integrate a system at the major airports which can provide them with the weather updates well in advance. 

The MeT department has predicted similar duststorm and thunderstorm on Monday. Airport officials said at least 40 Delhi-bound flights were diverted till 2 am. Nearly 300 passengers on board a United Airlines flight from Newark to Delhi were forced to spend the night inside the plane after it was diverted to Mumbai due to bad weather in the national Capital.

The passengers had a harrowing time as around 27 flights were diverted due to dust storm and showers. “Many flights were diverted due to bad weather and many others were rescheduled. We were going to London by AirIndia flight; our flight was to take off at 2:30 am, but has been rescheduled to 4:00 am,” said a passenger, Sohan Verma.

The people waiting for their friends and family members complained that there was no information about the delayed flights.