GoAir offloads 13 'drunk' passengers from Delhi-Srinagar flight for creating ruckus

As many as 13 passengers were offloaded from a Srinagar-bound GoAir flight from New Delhi for creating ruckus soon after boarding the plane. The incident happened on July 1 soon after the aircraft doors were closed and the flight was set for departure, official sources said.

According to them, the passengers were apparently drunk and created ruckus causing inconvenience to others on the flight. They started shouting soon after boarding and also claimed that a few others from their group were not allowed to board. The passengers were purportedly on their way to Amarnath.

Incidentally, a senior official of aviation regulator DGCA who was on the flight asked the pilot to call in security and offload the unruly passengers, they said. The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) official was flying to Srinagar for some inspection work at Amarnath. 

When contacted, a GoAir spokesperson confirmed the incident of offloading 13 passengers from the flight on July 1 but did not provide further details. Following the incident, the flight, which was scheduled to depart at around 0545 hours was delayed by more than an hour. 

GoAir, which has ambitious expansion plans, is also preparing for an initial public offer. Earlier this month, GoAir CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said it would hit the market with an IPO at the appropriate time.

"We are preparing ourself (for the IPO). Its a question of timing, it is about the right timing. We are not in a hurry. We will wait for the right timing. We want to be well prepared. There are many things which we need to look at (before going to stock exchange)," he had said. Recently, the airline got government's approval to fly to nine countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan.