Renuka Chowdary delays Air India’s Hyderabad-bound flight

New Delhi: A former Union minister from Hyderabad delayed an Air India flight from Delhi to Hyderabad after checking in, because she reported late for boarding.

Ms Renuka Chowdary was apparently strolling through the shopping section at the Delhi airport and reported at 7.04 pm for the flight which was supposed to leave at 7 pm, civil aviation ministry sources said.

Flight AI-126 had arrived from Chicago and was to depart for the final leg of its journey to Hyderabad. As many as 276 passengers boarded the flight at Delhi. Furious passengers protested the delay, sources said.

Sources said the politician had checked in three pieces of baggage which had been duly loaded on the aircraft. When she reported late, the airline decided to allow her to board since identifying and removing the baggage would have delayed the flight further.

Ms Chowdary speaking to TV channels said she was having a problem but had not been provided with a buggy. She admitted she was the last passenger to board the flight.

The civil aviation ministry is now planning to introduce a RFID baggage system with barcode so that if an incident like this happens in future, any checked-in baggage can be identified electronically and removed at once.