Indian pilot puts AC on full blast to force passengers out

MUMBAI: An altercation broke in between passengers and staff of an Indian airline after the pilot blasted full air-conditioned fog to evacuate the plane after the flight had been delayed for about four and a half hour.

“The flight was scheduled to depart at 9 am and was initially delayed by 30 minutes. After boarding, we kept sitting inside the aircraft for one-and-a-half hours with no food or water at all,” said passenger.

The flight captain then instructed all passengers to deboard without any explanation, he added.

“When passengers refused to deboard due to heavy rains outside, the captain put the air-conditioning blower on full blast to hound the passengers out. It created a scary scene as heavy fog was created inside the plane and it was very suffocating,” he said.

“This is the way aviation industry works in India. This #AirAsiaservice was particularly scary... Avoid Air Asia,” a passenger said in a  Facebook post.

He explained that the heavy air-conditioned sickened the passengers, especially women and children but the staff did not cooperate.

An apologetic statement from the airline released shortly after the complaint had emerged online, asserting that a technical condition had caused the inconvenience but none of the actions were intended to deliberately harm the passengers.

“AirAsia India would like to confirm that flight i5583 from Kolkata to Bagdogra was delayed by 4.5 hours due to a technical requirement. AirAsia regrets the inconvenience caused to guests on account of this disruption and would like to reinstate that the airline always prioritises safety above all,” the company said.

“This is a normal occurrence on-board all aircraft when the air conditioning is operated in high humidity conditions,” the statement issued.

It added that there was no danger to any of the occupants on-board the aircraft as the cool conditioned air being circulated was condensing.