By IANS
New Delhi : Around 500 passengers were left stranded for hours at Delhi airport Sunday after at least four Air India flights failed to take off for their international destinations.
According to Air India spokesperson Ashok Sharma, the flights that failed to takeoff were to Dubai, Muscat, Toronto and New York.
The flight to Dubai was to leave at 9 p.m. Saturday, but passengers were still waiting at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at noon Sunday.
Though Sharma did not spell out the exact reasons for the delays, sources said one of the main reasons could be Air India ground staff’s failure in handling the massive crowd of passengers. Television channels reported another reason — the crew had completed their 12-hour shift and were unwilling to take off.
Sources said of the 22 Air India counters at the airport, just two were manned to check the passengers in.
The Air India flights were 814 to Muscat, 817 to Toronto via Amritsar, flight 111 to New York via London and another flight to Dubai via Abu Dhabi.