New Delhi: In a security lapse, an Air India Express passenger who was supposed to travel from Srinagar to Bagdogra via Delhi on Wednesday (July 30) ended up in Bhubaneswar. The reason: This young man somehow remained on board the aircraft on landing in Delhi and then the plane took off for its next flight which was to Bhubaneswar with him. Enroute the airline realised there’s an extra person on the flight. He was flown back to Delhi from Bhubaneswar; put up in a hotel here and then flown to Bagdogra on Thursday. The airline has informed the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security which will probe this lapse and take suitable action.According to sources, the “young man” boarded an AI Express Airbus A320 (VT-EXA) operating on Wednesday as IX 1128 from Srinagar to Delhi. He was to take a connecting flight to Bagdogra. “Repeated announcements are made asking transit passengers to head to the transfer desk. This aircraft VT-EXA was to operate to Bhubaneswar from Delhi also as IX 1128. For reasons not yet known, like perhaps the young man dozed off, he did not alight from the aircraft in Delhi once it landed here at 3.05 pm,” sources said.The plane then took off for Bhubaneswar at 3.55 pm. Airlines do a headcount on the number of passengers onboard to tally with their booking before taking off. However, in this case that was perhaps not done. Enroute, the airline realised there’s an extra passenger on board. How did this happen — whether the crew found on their own or the “young man” reached out to them to say he is on a wrong flight — is not yet know. “The crew then informed the pilots, who in turn informed the airline. When this aircraft landed, AI Express teams were there who put him on the return flight the same aircraft was to operate to Delhi. Once he reached here Wednesday night, the airline put him up in a hotel and then flew him to Bagdogra on Thursday,” sources said.

An Air India Express spokesperson said: “On July 30, a guest transiting through Delhi on another flight inadvertently continued on the aircraft onward to Bhubaneswar. An internal investigation is being conducted to identify and address any lapses, while reiterating SOPs and internal briefings across stations to prevent recurrence.”

There have been a some boarding time goof ups where passengers have inadvertently boarded a wrong plane but staying onboard and flying to the next destination the aircraft operates to is not too common. For many years there’s a special protocol in place to ensure something like does not happen on Air India wide body aircraft that do a domestic flight and then operate abroad. Say a Boeing 777 flying Delhi-Mumbai-New York will ensure passengers booked for the Delhi-Mumbai sector alone do not stay on board when the aircraft operates to NYC.