Lucknow-Mumbai flight passengers face delay in opening of aircraft door

New Delhi/Mumbai: Passengers onboard the first flight to Mumbai from Lucknow on Monday faced a delay in the opening of the aircraft door after landing as apparently officials were awaiting certain approvals from local authorities, sources said.

There were around 40 passengers on the first flight to Mumbai after the resumption of domestic flight services on May 25.

The sources said the aircraft door was not opened for at least 10 minutes even after the aerobridge was attached.

"IndiGo flight 6E-685 left Lucknow around 6.15 am and landed at Mumbai airport's terminal 2 at around 8 am on Monday.

"However, there was an unusual delay of about 10 minutes in the opening of the aircraft's door," a source who was present in the operations area of the airport told PTI.

Generally, the aerobridge connects immediately upon arrival of an aircraft and the door is opened soon.

"In this case, there was an unusual delay.

A communication got circulated that local authorities will take a decision before the door is opened for passengers to alight," the source said.

According to the second source, the A320 plane had around 30-40 passengers on board besides two pilots and four cabin crew.

Query sent to an IndiGo spokesperson remained unanswered.

A spokesperson of the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the operator of the aerodrome, was not available for comments either.

An airport official said the flight was scheduled to arrive at 8.20 am, but it arrived early.

As per the norm, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has the authority to quarantine people suspected of having coronavirus infection at the airport itself.

The flight arrived earlier than its actual time, but BMC staff reached there at the scheduled time only, the official said.

This perhaps could be the reason for the delay in opening the aircraft door, the official added.