Bihar governor, other passengers stranded in Goa after IndiGo flight to Delhi suffers technical snag

Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar was briefly stranded in Goa with his team after his IndiGo flight suffered a technical snag on Friday. Passengers were asked to deboard after the nose gear of Flight 6E 6193 jammed on the runway — with the delay initially attributed to air traffic control.

“The airline did not offer water or food. After around 5:30 pm they informed us that the aircraft would not be taking off and that we could either take a refund or choose to get adjusted in one of their one stop flights which meant at least an eight-hour delay,” passenger Nageshwar Yadav told Hindustan Times.

According to airport officials, the Governor and his team had opted for an alternative flight with Air India that was leaving Goa airport soon. Other passengers were compelled to fly out to other cities — including Chennai and Mumbai — in order to get a connecting flight to Delhi.

The incident came mere days after IndiGo found itself ranked among the worst performing airlines of 2024 by an EU claim processing agency. The AirHelp survey ranked the carrier poorly on the basis of several parameters including punctuality — giving it a rank of 103 out of 109 airlines.

IndiGo has however refuted the assertion and insisted that the survey methodology “cast a doubt on its credibility”. The airline also claimed in an official statement that it had consistently scored high on punctuality and  posessed the lowest customer complaint ratio for an airline of its size and scale of operations.

Earlier this week IndiGo also expressed deep regret to a passenger who complained that he was hurt after falling on the ramp while getting down from an aircraft at the Delhi airport in August. Full refund of the ticket has also been given to the traveller.

(With inputs from agencies)