Bollywood actress Radhika Apte and fellow passengers experienced a distressing situation at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai on the morning of January 13. They were inadvertently locked inside the aerobridge of an IndiGo flight that was set to depart for Bhubaneswar.
The unfortunate incident took place when passengers were asked to board Flight 6E 2301 from Mumbai to Bhubaneswar at 8:30 AM. However, as they lined up to board the plane via the aerobridge, the flight experienced a delay due to a change in the crew. When passengers tried to understand why there was a delay, they realized that they were locked inside the aerobridge. Despite multiple requests, the IndiGo ground staff reportedly denied them permission to go back to the departure lounge.
The 'Andhadhun' actress took to social media to make their voices heard. She wrote, "Today morning I had an flight at 8:30. It’s 10:50 now and the flight has still not boarded. BUT the flight said we were boarding and put all the passengers in the aerobridge and LOCKED IT! The passengers with small babies, elderly people have been locked in for over an hour. The security won’t open the doors. The staff has ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE!"
She added that the passengers were informed of a crew change and were awaiting the arrival of the new crew. "Apparently their crew hasn’t boarded. The crew had the change and they are still waiting for new crew but they have no idea of when they will arrive so no one knows how long they’ll be locked inside. I managed to escaped briefly to speak to the very stupid staff woman outside who kept saying there is no issue and no delay :) now I’m locked inside."
"AND they just told us that we will be here till minimum 12pm, all locked in. No water no loo. Thanks for the fun ride!!" she concluded.
It's still unaware of how long Apte and the other passengers were inside the aerobridge. She posted many photos and a video of people just waiting. As per reports, when contacted, IndiGo didn't address the locked-in passengers, but said, “Flight 6E 2301 from Mumbai to Bhubaneswar was delayed due to operational reasons. Passengers were kept informed about the delay. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to all our passengers.”
The plausible reason of why the flight was delayed was because of the Indian Air Force Surya Kiran aerobatic show. Previously, Airport Authority of India had passed a statement regarding the closure of runways between 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, which added that, “Passengers are urged to verify their scheduled flights with their respective airlines before heading to the airport during these days."
The IndiGo flight, which was scheduled to depart at 8:30 AM finally took off at 1:52 PM.
