Singapore-Bound Flight Takes Off Without 30 Passengers At Amritsar Airport, DGCA Looking Into Matter

The Singapore-bound flight was scheduled to take off from Amritsar after 7 pm, but the airline rescheduled it between 3-4 pm on Wednesday.

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed that it is looking into the matter where a Scoot Airlines (Singaporean airline) Singapore-bound flight allegedly took off hours ahead of schedule on Wednesday, leaving behind over 30 passengers at the Amritsar airport. Earlier, the Singapore-bound flight was scheduled to take off from Amritsar after 7 pm, but the airline rescheduled it between 3-4 pm on Wednesday and updated all the passengers via e-mail, Amritsar Airport Director told news agency ANI.

The travel agent, who booked the tickets for 30 people in the group did not inform them about the change in Singapore-bound flight timings to the passengers, the Amritsar Airport official said.

As per ANI, the DGCA has sought details from both Scoot Airline which is a Singaporean low-cost airline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, and the Amritsar Airport authority.

In a similar incident last week, Delhi-bound Go First flight G8-116 took off from Bengaluru leaving behind 55 passengers at the Bangalore airport.

The DGCA on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to the Chief Operation Officer of Go First airlines asking why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations.

In a statement, the aviation regulatory body mentioned that the incident report was sought by DGCA from Go First. "After perusal of the reply submitted by Go First through email dated Tuesday, prima facie it emerges that Go First failed to comply with the provision specified at para 9 and 13 of CAR Section 3, Series C, Part II issued by DGCA resulted in violation of Para (1A) of Rule 134 read with Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 and Go First has failed to comply with the provision specified in para 5.2 of ATC 02 of 2019," the statement read, as per ANI.

"As per the above-referred regulations, the concerned airline is responsible to ensure adequate arrangement for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch and passenger/cargo handling and also ensure that all the ground handling staff engaged in passenger handling undergo periodic soft skill training for sensitization, courtesy, behaviour and procedures for assisting the passengers," it added.

As per air passengers, who took to Twitter to register their complaints against Go First, the Flight G8-116 took off for Delhi from Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport around 6.30 am while about 55 passengers were kept waiting in one of the buses as the flight took off.

The passengers were taken in four buses to the aircraft. The passengers who left the Bangalore airport were reportedly accommodated on another flight that left four hours later, around 10 am.

In a statement, Go First informed that it initiated an inquiry into the incident. Further, the airline said it has decided to offer all affected passengers one free ticket for travel on any domestic route in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, more details about the incident at Amritsar airport are awaited.