Bengaluru weather leaves 168 flyers stranded in Chennai for nearly ten hours

CHENNAI:  A total of 168 Bengaluru-bound passengers Bengaluru were left stranded at the city airport after their Abu Dhabi - Bengaluru Air India Express flight was diverted to Chennai due to bad weather in Bengaluru on Sunday morning. The flight diversions caused significant disruptions to air travel, affecting scores of passengers.

The flight, which was originally scheduled to land in Bengaluru, was diverted to Chennai along with three other flights from Delhi, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi due to bad weather conditions.

While the other three flights managed to take off to Bengaluru after the weather improved, the Air India Express flight was grounded as the pilot had completed his duty hours and went for mandatory rest. It took nearly 10 hours for Air India to arrange a standby pilot, prompting the particular flight to take off at around 5.30 pm with only around 60 passengers while nearly 100 air passengers, initially stranded at the Chennai airport, decided to find their own ways to reach their destination.

The passengers, who were not allowed to disembark initially, staged a protest following which airport authorities obtained special permission to conduct immigration and customs checks within the airport premises.

"As the passengers were allowed for immigration clearance in Chennai instead of Bengaluru (original destination) a good number of passengers decided to choose their ways to reach Bengaluru," sources said.

The passengers were then provided accommodation at hotels in Chennai.

According to airport officials, the passengers were accommodated on alternative flights to Bengaluru and then taken back on the same flight after the management sourced a pilot to take the flight back to Bengaluru.