Mumbai: Hundreds of passengers booked on late-night SpiceJet flights from Mumbai to Bengaluru, Delhi and Ahmedabad faced long delays and cancellations on Wednesday night and early Thursday, leaving many stranded at the airport through the night.Among the worst affected was a Mumbai–Bengaluru red-eye flight (SG 874), scheduled to depart at 1.55am, which eventually left about nine hours late. Passengers, who had arrived around midnight, took to social media to vent their frustration. “Been waiting at Mumbai T1 since yesterday midnight and the flight keeps on being delayed,” (sic) posted Shivangi Pathak, a passenger on X at 8.50am. She also uploaded a photo of her boarding pass showing a revised departure of 7.45am.On Thursday morning, Seemant Nuniwala posted, “Worst experience with @flyspicejet. SG 164 cancelled after hours of delay, zero support at airport, broken refund link.” The Mumbai–Delhi night flight (SG 164) scheduled at 11.15pm was delayed and then cancelled, forcing passengers to make last-minute alternative bookings. Nuniwala said she had to pay Rs 15,000 to book a new flight. Among the other affected flights were a Mumbai–Gorakhpur day flight and an Ahmedabad day flight (SG 880), both of which were cancelled, and SG 696 to Ahmedabad, scheduled at 2.20am, departed at 5.17am.In a statement, SpiceJet said three flights, Mumbai–Delhi (SG 631), Mumbai–Gorakhpur (SG 553) and Mumbai–Bengaluru (SG 669), were cancelled on April 29 due to operational reasons, including aircraft grounding and adverse weather at a previous station, which also led to Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) constraints for crew. It added that additional flights were being operated on Thursday to accommodate affected passengers.SpiceJet has been battling poor punctuality for months. Online performance data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows SpiceJet had the lowest on-time performance (OTP) among Indian carriers in March at 43%. At Mumbai airport, its OTP was just 29%, meaning fewer than one in three flights departed on time. The airline also recorded the highest share of delays beyond two hours, affecting over 32,000 passengers.
