For the second consecutive day, an Air India Express flight bound for Kathmandu, Nepal, could not fly, causing tension among passengers at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Stranded passengers protested at the airport. According to the passengers, the flight departed on its scheduled time of 10:30 am on Thursday from the Bengaluru airport for Kathmandu, but it returned without landing in Nepal; the reasons are unclear.

On Friday morning, the same flight attempted to fly again but could not land in Nepal’s capital and was diverted to Lucknow. Upon reaching Lucknow, passengers were made to sit inside the aircraft for prolonged hours, without clear communication from the airline team. One passenger shared, “We were kept inside the plane for hours without proper information. No one clearly told us what was happening,”.

Passengers’ reaction

Passengers were frustrated after the flight was delayed for prolonged hours. According to an insider, passengers protested inside the aircraft, after which the airline was forced to fly back to Bengaluru. After arrival, many passengers protested by staging a sit-in near the immigration area, accusing the airline of gross mismanagement. Some protesters claimed they were suffocated inside the aircraft and had been inside for more than 30 hours over two days. One passenger said, “Our entire Nepal trip has been ruined. We had planned this well in advance and suffered financial losses,”. To control the agitating protestors, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) had to step in, but many continued to demand accountability and compensation. Of the passengers listed, 40 were Kannada-speaking; all of them complained that their long-planned trip to Nepal was ruined by the airline, citing poor coordination and communication. The airline had not issued an advisory in advance.