IndiGo flight passenger reveals he's COVID positive just before take-off at Delhi airport

Unprecedented chaos engulfed the Pune-bound IndiGo flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on Thursday when a passenger said he was COVID-19 positive just before the take-off. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when travelling even for essential reasons has become a hefty task, an IndiGo official told news agency ANI that on March 4 the passenger said he is a patient of novel coronavirus while he was travelling to Pune. As per the report, the announcement was followed by panic among the rest of the passengers on the flight, when it was on the runway and about to take off.

“On March 4, a passenger announced himself that he was travelling to Pune and that he was Covid positive. He informed flight crew on board," an Indigo official told the news agency on Friday.

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How was the situation managed?

Reportedly, following the passenger’s revelation, the flight was delayed for at least two hours and the pilot onboard turned the flight back to the taxi-bay and offloaded all the passengers including the one infected with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The IndiGo official said that the flight was then fumigated and sanitised and the seat covers were also changed.  

"The flight was reported to be delayed for about two hours because of the incident. The pilot of the aircraft turned back the flight from the runway to taxi-bay and offloaded all the passengers, including the COVID-19 positive passenger. Later, the aircraft was fumigated and sanitised and the seat covers were also changed," the official said.

"The airline followed the COVID-19 guidelines laid down by the government and aviation authority," the official added.

Later, the person who claimed to be COVID-19 positive was handed over to the airport’s medical authorities and his result eventually did come out positive. As per several media reports, the passenger, whose announcement triggered panic in the IndiGo flight, was sent to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital’s COVID facility in an ambulance. Meanwhile, the rest of the passengers who had to wait for a couple of hours at the airport were subjected to hospitality and they lauded the efforts by IndiGo. 

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