Hundreds stranded in Jeddah for days after flight delays

TIN news:   Hundreds of passengers have reportedly been stranded in Jeddah for several days after an Air India flight was repeatedly delayed due to a technical fault.
 
The flight from Jeddah to Calicut was scheduled to depart on Wednesday but a hydraulic fault caused it to be postponed initially until the following day, inconveniencing nearly 800 passengers.
 
When the problem was still unable to be fixed, the flight was twice again delayed 24 hours before finally taking off on Saturday.
 
The severe delays forced Air India to send two Airbus A320 aircraft from New Delhi and Mumbai to Jeddah on Thursday to ferry the stranded passengers, Air India Manager Feroz Khan told Arab News.
 
“Air India flew 760 passengers to Calicut on Thursday evening and late at night,” he said. “The third flight to Calicut, scheduled for departure on Friday evening, only flew out on Saturday morning.”
 
“Passengers were informed about flight delays and were lodged at hotels.”
 
Passengers complained to the newspaper they were not informed about the delays or rescheduling.
“I was scheduled to attend an important wedding on Friday, which I missed,” Mohammed Azam Sharif told Arab News.
 
“I didn’t receive any SMS or call regarding the delays,” he said.