Air India Express Dubai-Lucknow fight returns to ramp as passenger ‘faints due to AC failure’
An Air India Express flight from Dubai to Lucknow in India was delayed for two hours on Thursday night after a female passenger “started to faint” allegedly due to suffocation inside the plane because of AC failure.
The university student in Ajman and five other members of her family were offloaded on their demand and she was sent to the medical centre at the airport.
Passengers of IX 194 complained of heat and suffocation after the aircraft was pushed back for taxiing by 11.25pm on Thursday.
Ritu Raizada, a writer and PR consultant, first tweeted about the issue at 11:45pm. “@airindiain for the first time in the lives of passengers of
IX194 Dxb-Lko have been sitting on a plane WITHOUT AC. This plane is a furnace.”
When contacted, she messaged Khaleej Times from aboard the plane: “There has been no AC since we sat in the plane. We have been in the plane since 10.45-11pm. It was just about to take off when one of the passengers started to faint. And her father and family made a lot of noise. Her father and other passengers who have little kids forced the plane to not take off because of the heat.”
She further said: “There was not even an apology from the crew as they came up with their own logic that we all came from the hot temperature outside, hence feeling warm. They kept saying that the plane would shortly cool and we are all still sweating and feeling suffocated.”
“There were heated clashes between passengers and the AI staff as finally a few minutes back we were served water. Remember this is Ramadan and most Muslims are already dehydrated. Just now the captain announced that there will be another delay of 30 minutes due to luggage being off loaded,” Raizada messaged at 12:56am.
“Someone took a pic and a few selfies were taken and it made the father all the more angry (sic). It’s a Muslim family wearing abayas. The girl was administered oxygen as she couldn’t breathe normal. She had got really serious but now she is better and sent to the airport,” she said before the flight took off at 1.25am.
Two other passengers, I. Naqvi and Athar Moin, also confirmed the details. They said the crew maintained that the minute the plane will take off it will cool the interiors. But in two hours, they claimed, the plane had become like a furnace.
However, Prem Sagar, manager of Air India and Air India Express in Dubai and Sharjah, said the passengers felt hot due to the ambient temperature when the aircraft doors were opened for the family to disembark and offloading their luggage took time. “The AC was working fine. All ACs take some time to reach its maximum effectiveness,” he said adding that the aircraft was not older than a maximum of 10 years.
He said the passenger reported of breathlessness and suffocation when the flight was about to take off. “A doctor on board checked her and said her blood pressure was low and she was feeling weak. So she was sent to the medical centre. Air India received the report that the flight was coming back due to a sick passenger. Her father and other family members also decided not to fly,” he said.
Passengers later said the air conditioning was better during the flight. “This used to be the practice with this airline. They don’t provide AC before take-off to save on fuel,” said Moin.
Another flyer, who did not want to be named, said AC failure was a frequent issue in AIE flights to Lucknow. He claimed he travels every weekend to Lucknow from Dubai and flies on this airline out of no choice as it is the only daily flight. “The other flight is Fly Dubai but only thrice a week and the rest are from Sharjah.”
However, Sagar refuted these claims. “That is incorrect to say so. However, considering the current temperatures, I can instruct them (the staff) to take extra care (regarding AC),” he said.
