Patna: In a bizarre incident reported from Patna, passengers arriving at the Jayprakash Narayan International Airport on 2 Air India Express flights were shocked to find that none of their luggage had reached the city. The incident was reported on Saturday morning.
Routine landing turned into chaos
According to a report in the Times of India, what should have been a routine landing, turned into chaos, after passengers of the 2 flights discovered that their luggage had not arrived at the airport. Flyers who had just deboarded the aircraft were seen waiting around the conveyor belts for their luggage, but they soon realised that their baggage was missing.
The 2 flights involved in the incident were IX-2936 which had landed in Patna from Bengaluru at 8:23 am and the other was IX-1634, which landed from Chennai, at 8:50 am. While the baggage of the passengers from Bengaluru was to arrive on belt 4, those of the passengers from Chennai were to arrive on Belt 3. But, after a prolonged wait, the passengers realised that their baggage had been left behind at the originating airports.
TOI quoted a passenger from Bengaluru, Vivek Sharma as saying, “I waited for more than an hour but the belt was empty.” He said that when the staff were questioned regarding the missing luggage, they informed passengers that due to bad weather at the Bengaluru airport, the luggage could not be loaded. He said that the airlines did not give any explanation as to where the bags were or when would the passengers get them back.
Angry passengers confronted airline staff at the airport. One furious passenger was heard shouting that the airlines should be shut down, if they cannot handle basic operations.
Air India’s explanation
CISF personnel had to step in to calm down the passengers. The airline officials meanwhile said that arrangements were being made to bring the luggage on subsequent flights from the 2 destinations (Bengaluru and Chennai). They blamed the issue on the wet weather in Bengaluru and Chennai compounded by the short runway in Patna. They cited weight restrictions and safety protocols for not loading the luggage.
The airline staff told passengers that the luggage would be delivered to their home once it arrived. An official said that while departing Patna, often airlines are forced to offload checked in luggage of passengers. This happens so that they can meet the maximum take off weight as the runway is shorter in the city compared to other places.
There was no official statement regarding the matter from Air India. The incident has once again brought Air India into focus, which is already under immense public scrutiny after the air crash which killed more than 200 people in Ahmedabad.
