A Mumbai International Airport Limited official said that the Saudia flight was scheduled to take off for Jeddah at 8 a.m. on Monday but was grounded due to a technical snag, which could not be repaired till Tuesday afternoon. He confirmed that a team of engineers had arrived in Mumbai from Jeddah to fix the glitch.
A Saudia official said that nearly all the stranded passengers, mostly Umrah pilgrims, were accommodated in hotels.
Angry passengers criticized the airline staff and accused them of not informing them about the timing of the take off.
Shabbir Batliwala, who was going to Jeddah with his wife and mother, said that Saudia should have accommodated them on another airline flight instead of making them stay back for two days.
Rafiq Ismail, an expatriate worker working on the last day of his visa, asked what will happen to him after his visa expires the next day. "Will Saudia take the responsibility for my problem?" he asked.
But the Saudia official explained that the delay was unexpected.
"Everything was perfect and normal but for the last minute snag in the aircraft. Technical snag can happen in any aircraft at any time. The passengers should understand that if there is a major snag, then both parts and technical staff have to be called from the headquarters to set things right. We give top priority to the passengers and have no intentions whatsoever to cause them any inconveniences," he said.
Professor Muzaffar Shaikh from Mumbai, proceeding to Jeddah for Umrah, did not share the grumblings of other passengers. He said that nothing was done intentionally and no one can predict when things can go wrong in an aircraft.
"Patience and restraint rather than anger should be maintained," he said, pointing out that he had flown on Saudia several times and found the airline to be "one of the best airlines in the world today."
