Jaipur-Dubai SpiceJet flight cancelled after being delayed for 14 hours
Jaipur-Dubai travellers have faced last-minute flight cancellations and long delays this week, with two different airlines grounding hundreds of passengers on what is normally one of Rajasthan’s busiest international air routes.
On Tuesday (October 7), SpiceJet flight SG-57, which was scheduled to leave Jaipur International Airport at 9.30am, was first delayed for 14 hours and later in the evening cancelled by the carrier, who cited “operational reasons” for the decision. Passengers at the airport had been waiting since the morning, and were upset by the development.
“I have come from other cities to Jaipur and boarded this flight, and now it has been told to us that it’s delayed and then it was cancelled,” one of the affected passengers alleged. “No arrangements were made for us to eat or stay.”
Dozens of others at the airport’s Terminal 1 is reported to have confronted the airline’s staff about the issue, demanding accommodation and food arrangements for passengers. No resolution was offered to the group, and many said they had already spent the full day at the airport by the time it was communicated to them that the flight would not operate.
This was the latest in a series of incidents on the Jaipur–Dubai route in recent days, with Air India Express passengers having experienced similar delays and last-minute cancellations on the route earlier this week.
On October 5, the airline’s flight IX-195, which was scheduled to take off from Jaipur at 5.55am, was delayed by four hours and eventually grounded after being subject to a string of several-hourly delays for “operational reasons”.
Flight-tracking websites indicate this was the latest in a spate of cancellations and last-minute delays by both SpiceJet and Air India Express. The route, which carries thousands of workers and tourists between Dubai and Jaipur each month, has suffered multiple incidents in recent weeks and months.
In September, the Air India Express service was last-minute cancelled with no aircraft available on September 29 after the inbound flight from Dubai to Jaipur did not arrive. On September 25, the same service was delayed for hours after a technical snag on the inbound aircraft. Passengers had to wait at the airport for a replacement aircraft to be arranged.
Flight-tracking data also shows that a Dubai-bound SpiceJet service earlier this year was aborted moments after take-off and returned to the airport by the pilot after cockpit warnings were registered.
The double back-to-back cancellation of both Air India Express and SpiceJet flights on Tuesday and Wednesday has agitated travellers, who have complained of missed connections and an increasing lack of certainty on a route that is normally one of the most dependable from Rajasthan.
Air India Express was approached to comment on the series of cancellations and did not offer a response. SpiceJet has also not commented on its decision to cancel flight SG-57 on October 7.
Comments