- Wednesday, March 05, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
With the peeing controversy on board Air India yet to die down, a fresh controversy has rocked India’s aviation sector.
The country’s civil aviation regulator — Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — has sought a report from Go First airline, one of India’s ultra low-cost ones, after one of its flights took off from the southern city of Bengaluru without taking in more than 50 passengers who were forgotten in a bus on the tarmac.
According to an NDTV report, the DGCA said on Monday (9) that it was “looking into the matter” after many of the stranded passengers slammed the airline on Twitter, calling it a “most horrifying experience”.
The incident happened at the city’s Kempegowda International Airport where Flight G8 116 departed for Delhi around 6.30 am even as some 55 passengers kept waiting in one of the four buses that took them to the aircraft, according to complaints seen on Twitter.
The complaining posts tagged Indian civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and the office of prime minister Narendra Modi.
The passengers possessed their boarding passes and their luggage were checked in.
Go First responded to the tweets saying it regretted the inconvenience caused.
The passengers were reportedly flown on another flight that left around 10 am, four hours after the scheduled one.
“We have sought a report from the airline and appropriate action shall be taken,” a DGCA official was quoted as saying by reports.
Sumit Kumar, who works in Bengaluru, was among the passengers who were left behind.
He said he missed his meetings as a result of the miss and added that it was his last flight on Go First.
A tweet by Shreya Sinha called it the “most horrifying experience”.
Most horrifying experience with @GoFirstairways
5:35 am Boarded the bus for aircraft
6:30 am Still in bus stuffed with over 50 passengers, driver stopped the bus after being forced.
Flight G8 116 takes off, leaving 50+ passengers.
Heights of negligence! @DGCAIndia— Shreya Sinha (@SinhaShreya_) January 9, 2023
“Most horrifying experience with @GoFirstairways 5:35 am Boarded the bus for aircraft 6:30 am Still in bus stuffed with over 50 passengers, driver stopped the bus after being forced. Flight G8 116 takes off, leaving 50+ passengers. Heights of negligence!” she said.
The incident happens in the wake of the peeing incident on board an Air India flight between New York and Delhi when a drunk business-class passenger allegedly urinated on an elderly woman co-passenger. The airline was accused of mishandling the matter and the pilots and the crew members of the flight of November 26 were grounded.
The passenger, Shankar Mishra, was arrested on January 7, six weeks after the incident took place.
There have also been instances of fights on flights.
