Omar Abdullah said the IndiGo plane was diverted after being in the air for three hours and the flyers were stranded aboard the aircraft at Jaipur past midnight
New Delhi: An Jammu-Delhi IndiGo flight carrying J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah among passengers was diverted to Jaipur on Saturday night, prompting sharp reaction from the political leader who said the aircraft was diverted after being in the air for three hours and the flyers were stranded aboard the aircraft at Rajasthan’s capital city past midnight.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister shared a selfie standing on the IndiGo aircraft’s steps after deplaning briefly for “fresh air” at Jaipur airport.(X/@OmarAbdullah)
In a late-night post on microblogging platform X, Omar Abdullah called the Delhi airport a “bloody shit show”, adding that he was “in no mood to be polite.”
“Delhi airport is a bloody shit show [excuse my French but I’m in no mood to be polite]. 3 hours in the air after we left Jammu we get diverted to Jaipur & so here I am at 1 in the morning on the steps of the plane getting some fresh air. I’ve no idea what time we will leave from here,” Omar Abdullah wrote on X.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has recently shut operations at the Terminal 2 (T2) due to maintenance work, with airliners such as IndiGo and Akasa moving all flights that operated from T2 to the Terminal 3 and the recently opened upgraded Terminal 1.
Flight reaches Delhi at 3 am
The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister also shared a selfie standing on the aircraft’s steps after deplaning briefly for “fresh air” as passengers on the flight were left stranded aboard the aircraft at Jaipur airport past midnight.
“In case anyone is wondering, I got to Delhi just after 3:00 AM,” Omar Abdullah said in another post.
IndiGo had not issued an official statement till the time of filing this report.
Earlier on Saturday, the Jammu airport also saw chaos, with hundreds of passengers complaining of inconvenience due to flight delays and cancellations.
Bad weather conditions in Srinagar disrupted flight operations, affecting several connecting flights.
In a post on X on Friday evening, IndiGo issued a travel advisory, stating, ” #6ETravelAdvisory: Unfavourable weather in #Srinagar is impacting flights, but we’re here to keep you informed! Stay updated on your flight status https://bit.ly/31paVKQ or explore flexible options https://bit.ly/31lwD2y, should there be a need to adjust your travel plans.”
“Weather conditions in Srinagar are impacting flight operations. We understand this may cause inconvenience and truly appreciate your patience. Please stay updated on your flight status in real time. If your flight is impacted, you can explore flexible rebooking options or claim a refund easily via our website,” the airline said in its advisory.
“Our teams are actively monitoring the situation and will have smooth operations back on track as soon as the weather plays nice,” the IndiGo advisory added.
