IndiGo flight delayed by 3 hours after pilot gets news about grandmother's death

A new pilot from Delhi was called in to take the place of the bereaved pilot and the IndiGo flight eventually left Patna at 4:41 pm. (Representational Image).

The departure of a Patna-Pune IndiGo flight was delayed by over three hours on Wednesday after the pilot refused to fly the aircraft on hearing the news of his grandmother's death, a Hindustan Times report said.

The Indigo Flight 6E-126 with 162 passengers was scheduled to leave Patna's Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport at 1:25 pm and the flight crew were waiting for the pilot, who was about to board the aircraft.

However, before the flight's departure, the pilot got news about his grandmother's death and informed airline officials that he was not in the right mental state to fly the plane to Pune.

Following the pilot's refusal to fly, IndiGo airline officials immediately brought the aircraft back to the parking bay to clear the runaway for other flights to depart. A new pilot from Delhi was called in to take the place of the bereaved pilot and the flight eventually left Patna at 4:41 pm.

One of the passengers travelling in the flight named Manish Kumar was not amused by the delay and called IndiGo's perceived handling of the situation as "totally unprofessional".

@IndiGo6E totally unprofessional manner by Indigo as it has delayed flight 6e126 and told that pilot is not available. This all has done after boarding is done. Boarding done at 1300 hrs and now flight is going to take off by 1630 hrs at patna for pune hrs @DGCAIndia,@JM_Scindia

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— (@ManishK92021838) January 17, 2024

Hi, we regret the inconvenience and assure you that it is never our intent to disrupt the travel plans of our flyers. However, at times, due to certain operational reasons, such delays are beyond the control of the airline. We look forward to your kind understanding. ~Dhruv

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) January 17, 2024

IndiGo was recently fined Rs 1.2 crore for five offenses, including an incident in which passengers were seen sitting on the tarmac and eating, following a delay in departure.