Passengers won’t budge as Minister delays flight

Union Civil Aviation Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain had to abandon the New Delhi-bound Indian Airlines flight today with protests by co-passengers blaming him for the over a half-an-hour delay in departure. Hussain, who was here to unveil a statue of former Orissa CM Biju Patnaik, apologised to the passengers.

The Delhi-Bhubaneswar IA flight which Hussain boarded to reach the city was to land at 12.10 pm but landed at about 12.30 pm. The same flight , an Airbus, was to take him back to Delhi. But a 20 minute delay in arrival pushed the Minister’s schedule backwards.

Later, passengers, irked by the delay, encountered Hussain at the ladder as he was proceeding to board the flight, blaming him for the delay. A visibly embarrassed Hussain apologised to the passengers saying if he was responsible for the delay, he would not board it. He boarded the Mumbai-bound IA flight an hour later.