Passengers of Air India flight AI909, scheduled to depart for Dubai at 9 am on Saturday, endured an ordeal lasting over eight hours at Mumbai airport. Passengers were made to sit inside the aircraft for nearly three hours without air conditioning, before being deboarded. A passenger on this flight also fainted due to lack of amenities like water.

Shweta Powar, an entrepreneur travelling to Dubai on the flight, told mid-day, “Many of us reached the airport around 5 am as it was an international flight. Many passengers had not even eaten breakfast. Boarding started around 8.15 am and abruptly halted around 8.30 am. The crew told us that there was some technical glitch and boarding resumed in 10 minutes. We were all inside the aircraft around 8.45 am, but the aircraft did not depart. We were made to sit inside the aircraft till 11.40 am.”