A passenger on an Akasa Air flight from Varanasi to Mumbai was detained after he allegedly tried to open the aircraft's emergency exit before takeoff, officials said on Tuesday. The incident took place aboard flight QP 1497, which was scheduled to depart for Mumbai at 6.45 pm on Monday from Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport.
As the aircraft was taxiing towards the runway, the passenger, Sujit Singh, a resident of Gaura Badshahpur in Jaunpur district, attempted to open the emergency exit, police said. Following an alert from the cabin crew, the pilot informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and brought the aircraft back to the apron.
Passenger detained
Security personnel escorted all passengers off the plane and took Sujit Singh into custody for questioning, the police said. Phoolpur Station House Officer (SHO) Praveen Kumar Singh said the passenger told investigators that he tried to open the exit "out of curiosity." Sujit Singh has been booked, the officer said. The flight departed for Mumbai at around 7.45 pm after security clearance.
Last month, three-year-old airline Akasa Air said it will be increasing services on domestic and international routes, including the introduction of non-stop services to Abu Dhabi from Cochin and Chennai. Delhi will be the airline's third operational base after Bengaluru and Mumbai, and the airline will operate over 165 weekly departures from the national capital.
Besides Delhi, the carrier will be enhancing services from Kolkata. "The airline will further expand its footprint across the Middle East with a 14 per cent increase in departures from Abu Dhabi, introducing non-stop flights connecting Abu Dhabi to Cochin and Chennai and strengthening its codeshare partnership with Etihad Airways. Departures from Jeddah will increase to 26 weekly flights, an around 270 per cent increase from Winter 2024, while frequency to Riyadh will be ramped up to 5x weekly," it said in a release.
(With PTI inputs)
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