Rourkela: ‘Alliance Air’ once more gave a harrowing time Thursday to passengers as one of its aircraft changed flight plans mid-way. The goof-up came to light after most of the passengers on board the aircraft arrived at Rourkela Friday by train.
According to information available, passengers travelling to Rourkela had boarded the Alliance Air flight from Bhubaneswar. However, midway through the flight, they were informed that the aircraft had developed a technical snag and would instead proceed to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport in Kolkata. Caught unawares by this sudden decision, the fliers were left shell-shocked, to say the least.
“How come the aircraft could fly to Kolkata and not to this town? This is a big farce. The airline company has made a fool out of us,” said Jagdish Panda whose sister had boarded the aircraft from Bhubaneswar.
Passengers on board said that the Alliance Air aircraft had departed from Bhubaneswar at the designated time. “The flight usually takes 55 minutes to reach Rourkela. However, with about 15-20 minutes to land, we were informed that the flight was proceeding to Kolkata due to a technical snag,” said a passenger here Friday.
“I am sure the plane never flew towards Rourkela, rather it was on its way to Kolkata. And mid-air after flying for 30 minutes the pilots and air hostesses informed us that the flight was on its way to Kolkata. We simply did not know what to do,” said Manaswini Dash, another passenger.
The problems did not end for the passengers though. On landing, they were informed that another flight will be provided for them to travel to this town.
“Later, however, the airline officials changed their version and said we will be taken to Bhubaneswar. Once we arrived in Kolkata there was no one available. All the staff of Alliance Air simply vanished leaving us to our own plight,” informed another passenger.
Frustrated and angry passengers then had no other option, but to travel to Howrah Station and catch trains. Most of them arrived here Friday morning.
“I along with my diabetic parents reached Rourkela this morning with much difficulty,” Dash said.
Alliance Air, ever since it started its flight service to Rourkela, has always courted controversy. Thursday was no exception with 62 passengers suffering for the ‘technical snag’.
PNN