Scoot flight takes off early, leaving 35 passengers stranded

A Scoot Airline flight took off a few hours ahead of schedule, leaving behind 35 passengers at India’s Amritsar airport.

The incident took place on January 18, 2023, when the Scoot Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registered 9V-OFE, was operating flight TR509 between Amritsar (ATQ) and Singapore (SIN). Although the plane was scheduled to depart at 7.55 p.m. local time, it left the airport almost five hours earlier at 3 p.m.

Around 280 passengers were due to travel on the flight, but only 253 were able to board the aircraft, leaving 35 passengers behind.

According to an India Times report, Scoot said it had informed customers about the change in flight time via email. But a travel agent, who was responsible for notifying passengers about the changes, failed to do so.

The incident prompted India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to launch an investigation.

Second abandonment case in a month
This is the second such incident to take place in India during January.

On January 9, 2023, a Go First flight G8-116 took off for Delhi leaving 55 passengers stranded in a bus on the runway at Bengaluru International Airport (BLR). The flight failed to wait for the last bus to transport passengers to the aircraft. The day after the incident, the DGCA issued a show cause notice to the ultra-low-cost air carrier, naming multiple mistakes which led to the incident.

These included a lack of proper communication, coordination, reconciliation and confirmation between the aircraft crew and the ground staff, the DGCA said.