Jet plane snag leaves passengers grounded

Sixty nine passengers refused to leave plane demanding confirmed seats, boarding passes for Singapore- Australia flights

Passengers on a Jet Airways flight bound for Singapore from here were grounded for hours after a snag in the aircraft forced it to return to the bay twice. Sixty-nine passengers travelling onward to Australia and New Zealand stayed put in the plane for around four hours and finally chose to not fly ahead. Finally, another plane took off for Singapore at 3 pm with about 30 passengers, six hours after the scheduled departure.

A Central Industrial Security Force source here said the Jet flight 9W 010 from Mumbai to Singapore was scheduled to leave at 9.50 am. “Jet Airways readied another aircraft to fly passengers to Singapore. However, 69 passengers who were travelling onward refused to disembark. Many of them did not have transit visas or a Singapore passport. The airline offered them hotel accommodation in Mumbai but they wanted confirmation about the onward flights. Some even asked for boarding passes for onward flights to places like Sydney and Melbourne.”

Finally the alternate aircraft  took off around at 3 pm without the 69 passengers. The 69 passengers have been given hotel accommodation in Mumbai.

Jet Airways flight 9W 010 from Mumbai to Singapore returned to bay twice following a technical snag resulting in the flight being rescheduled. With a change of aircraft and certain guests travelling for onward journey beyond Singapore, choosing not to fly , the rescheduled flight took off for its destination after a four hour delay. Safety is of paramount importance to the airline and any inconvenience caused to our guests is sincerely regretted by the airline," Jet Airways said in a statement.