‘Worst airline experience’: SpiceJet passengers fume as flights from Pune run late  

SG-51 is scheduled to depart from Pune at 9 pm daily and land in Dubai at 10.55 pm. But according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the service has run late throughout the week, with two cancellations on August 30 and September 1, apart from repeated delays since August 28.

As per Flightradar24, SG-51 departed Pune at around 9.50 am on Wednesday and landed in Dubai at 11.10 am, a delay of over 11 hours. On Thursday, the flight, originally scheduled for a 9 pm departure, finally took off at 4.18 am on Friday and landed at 5.23 am, a delay of nearly six hours.

The disruptions were not confined to the Dubai sector alone. X user Abhinav Tiwari described a similarly troubled experience on a domestic SpiceJet flight. “I had booked a SpiceJet morning flight for my friend from Pune to Delhi, and it was probably the worst airline experience ever. I booked a 5.30 am flight that was delayed to 4.30 pm, then to 5.30 pm, and then to 7.15 pm. And even though their policy says some compensation is due, nothing was offered,” he wrote.

The Pune-Delhi flight (SG-937) was originally scheduled to depart Pune at 5.55 am and land in Delhi at 8.30 am. Flightradar24 data shows it eventually departed at around 8 pm and landed in Delhi at around 9.53 pm on Thursday, a delay of nearly 14 hours.

SpiceJet, however, said that passengers had been informed in advance of a schedule change. “We had informed the flyers on Pune-Dubai well in advance about the flight rescheduling time to 8 am for the service scheduled on Wednesday evening,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.

On the frequent delays, the airline pointed to congestion at Dubai airport. “It is happening because of air traffic control (ATC) congestion in Dubai and en-route congestion, which resulted in departure-slot constraints and flight sequencing by Dubai airport authorities. And as the Dubai to Pune flight goes on to Delhi, if the flight gets delayed from Dubai, it’s a cascading delay effect on the further schedule,” the spokesperson told The Indian Express.

‘Ministry in touch with carriers’

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, addressing the media on the operational troubles being faced by airlines, said the ministry was in touch with carriers, including SpiceJet, over their difficulties. “Every month we engage with all the airlines regarding whatever difficulties or issues or challenges they have. SpiceJet also, in the same regard, we have been meeting.”

“We have been pushing them to step up their operations, mainly on the financial side. They have also assured that they will be doing it quite soon. In terms of support, there is an ECLGS scheme, and they are trying to avail some money through that,” Naidu added.