Pune: Flyers continue to face disruptions on SpiceJet flights, with the latest incident leaving passengers stranded overnight at the city airport after a flight to Dubai was delayed by nine hours.SpiceJet flight SG-51, scheduled to depart Pune around 9pm on Wednesday, eventually took off at 6am on Thursday. The incident came a day after passengers on a Delhi-Pune SpiceJet flight protested on the tarmac after a faulty air-conditioning system left them struggling to breathe inside the aircraft.The airline did not respond to TOI’s queries till the time of going to press.Frustrated passengers of SG-51 took to X to vent out their anger. Flyer Surender, in a series of posts and videos, said more than 100 passengers were stuck at the airport with no confirmed departure time. Surender and other passengers said they had been at the airport since 6pm, and that the departure time was repeatedly pushed back by an hour. They also alleged that the airline did not provide refreshments despite the prolonged wait. They urged authorities and airlines to provide clarity on the departure time and refreshments.Data from Flightradar showed the flight finally landed in Dubai at 6.36am, instead of its scheduled arrival time of 10.55pm on Wednesday.Regular flyers said the repeated disruptions warranted regulatory intervention. “We have heard that their fleet has shrunk and many employees have not been getting salaries on time. Amid their financial problems, they are still continuing to operate, and each day, many of their flights across sectors are delayed or cancelled. The DGCA or civil aviation ministry needs to act against them as they do in case of other airlines,” said Pune businessman Rakesh Pathak.SG-51 had recorded a similar eight-hour delay on July 8. In the last week of July, a Delhi-Pune flight and the Pune-Dubai service were again delayed by several hours, affecting more than 200 passengers. On Wednesday, Delhi-Pune flight SG939, scheduled to depart at 5pm, reached Pune after 10pm, according to Flightradar.Regular flyer and IT professional Namrata Jamde said airlines often notify passengers of delays only to repeatedly extend the departure time. “They say flyers were aware about the delay and therefore refreshments cannot be provided. Airlines need to understand that a delay is a delay and it disrupts passengers’ plans,” she said.
