Pune: Several flyers on board a Pune-bound Air India Express flight were stranded inside the aircraft for nearly three hours on Tuesday morning due to a technical issue, leading to complaints of heat and suffocation.The flight (IX-1230) was scheduled to depart from Delhi at 4.40am and arrive in Pune at 6.55am. However, passengers alleged that they remained inside the aircraft from around 4.20am to 7.45am, when it finally departed, with the air-conditioning malfunctioning.A flyer told TOI that the cabin became extremely uncomfortable as the AC kept switching on and off. “It was very hot and passengers were suffering. Sometimes the AC worked normally and at other times, it stopped for long periods. The airline should have de-boarded the passengers, but it didn’t,” he said, requesting anonymity.Air India Express acknowledged the issue in an official statement. “A technical issue was identified on one of our aircraft after boarding in Delhi. Our engineering team addressed it promptly, with additional ground air-conditioning provided throughout. The aircraft has since departed, and refreshments were served onboard. We regret the inconvenience,” an airline spokesperson told TOI.Several passengers also vented their frustration on social media, alleging poor communication from the airline staff. One flyer posted on X around 5.25am that passengers had already boarded when they were informed of the technical issue. “The AC is not operational. After making passengers sit in a stuffy cabin without AC for over an hour, they announced that the aircraft had some technical problem and was returning to the bay. There was no information about the nature of the issue, whether it could be fixed, or whether another aircraft would be arranged,” the passenger wrote.Around 7am, the passenger said the aircraft was finally ready for departure, over two hours after the scheduled take-off time. Minutes later, he wrote that the air-conditioning had stopped again, while the aircraft waited for departure clearance. Around 7.20am, the flyer alleged that Pune airport had not allotted a landing slot because of the delay. “We have been sitting in the plane since 4.15am, and the AC has been off for most of the time,” he wrote.Another passenger on X claimed that passengers were trapped in what felt like a “heat chamber” after the aircraft failed to receive clearance to fly. The flyer added that there was no proper information about the issue.The incident came days after a similar situation on Sunday involving an IndiGo flight from Vadodara to Delhi, where passengers reportedly remained inside the aircraft for around 30 minutes without lights or air-conditioning after a ground power unit malfunctioned.The delay also disrupted subsequent flight operations. Santosh Gupta, owner of Shree Vinayak Holidays, said the same aircraft was later scheduled to operate flights to Indore and Delhi. “The Pune-Indore flight, scheduled around 8.10am, departed only around 11.30am. The Delhi flight also got delayed by nearly three hours. Around seven of my clients travelling onward to Jammu from Delhi were badly affected,” he said.
