Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 30: Passengers travelling to Dammam in Saudi Arabia by an Air India Express flight from here were stranded for eight hours at the airport on Monday March 28 evening for eight hours. The flight was delayed due to some technical problems.

The flight to Dammam from here was scheduled to leave the airport here at 5.30 pm. After passengers completed boarding and immigration formalities, and were waiting to board the flight, they were told that the plane had developed some technical snag. The passengers were asked to wait in the security room.

Sources said that the passengers, who waited for long at the airport, complained about not getting proper information. 12 of the passengers cancelled their tickets, while four others left the airport without providing any information, they added.

It is learnt that spare parts required for conducting repairs came by a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai which reached here at 11.30 pm. Repair was undertaken thereafter. The flight left the airport at 1.57 am on Tuesday with 128 grown ups and nine children. There were passengers facing visa issues, as their visas were to be renewed the next day, who narrated their problems to officials at the airport.

Air India Express station manager, Nagesh Shetty, said that passengers had to face problems because of the fact that the flight encountered problems at the fag end. He regretted the fact that that the passengers had to face problems because of the delayed departure.