Passengers sweat as flight takes off with faulty AC

Bengaluru: Passengers, who boarded a SpiceJet flight from Mangaluru to Bengaluru on Saturday, had a traumatic experience for nearly an hour reportedly due to lack of air-conditioning inside the aircraft.
“It was a nightmare on New Year,” said Arun Desai, a passenger. “The flight (SG 3009) was scheduled to leave at 8.45pm on January 1 but it left Mangaluru airport only at 9.20pm due to some technical issues. Initially, the flight crew stated that the generator was not functioning, but claimed the issue was resolved before the flight took off,” said Desai.
He said the flight was fully packed with passengers, including senior citizens and kids. “There was a heated argument between flyers and the crew as the AC was not working during the entire trip. Passengers were wearing masks, so all were suffocated. Some even removed their masks and started fanning themselves with magazines,” said Desai. He said the crew claimed that temperature at ground level was high, which was the reason for the lack of AC. “But they didn’t resolve the issue even after the flight landed at Bengaluru airport at 10.10pm,” he alleged.