New Delhi, Aug 7, 2022: SpiceJet’s Hyderabad-Delhi flight passengers had to walk on the Delhi airport’s tarmac as the bus meant to carry them got delayed for nearly 45 minutes.

Aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has started investigation into the matter which took place on Saturday night.

The airline, however, said that the information that passengers of SpiceJet flight were forced to walk towards the terminal on foot is wrong and is denied. It said that there was a little delay in the arrival of coaches but all passengers rode them from the tarmac to the terminal building once they arrived. Despite staff requests, some people had started walking toward the terminal.

“There was a brief delay in the arrival of coaches to ferry the passengers from the tarmac to the terminal building. Despite repeated requests from our staff, a few passengers started walking towards the terminal. They had barely walked a few meters when the coaches arrived. All passengers, including those who had started walking, travelled on the coaches to the terminal building,” said a Spicejet spokesperson.

Officials said that passengers are not allowed to walk on the Delhi airport’s tarmac area as it is a security risk and there is a demarcated path on the tarmac for vehicles only.

SpiceJet is operating nearly 50 per cent of its flights following orders of the aviation regulator. In July, DGCA had imposed the curb on the airline’s flights for a period of eight weeks as its planes were involved in multiple incidents of technical malfunction.