Woman creates ruckus at Bhubaneswar airport after flight cancellation

A woman passenger created a ruckus at Bhubaneswar airport, shouted at the airline staff, climbed onto a conveyor belt and threw some objects after her flight to Kolkata was cancelled, officials said on Friday.

An FIR was registered against the woman for allegedly damaging public property and misbehaving with the staff at the airline counter.

Video clippings of the woman, who reportedly had a sick child at home in Kolkata, shouting at the staff at the top of her voice went viral.

Several passengers alleged that the flight scheduled for 2.35 pm was cancelled at 5.30 pm on Thursday, but they did not receive timely information.

The Bhubaneswar-Kolkata flight was delayed and later cancelled due to a technical reason, a senior officer of the Biju Patnaik International Airport here said.

"Irate over the flight cancellation, the woman started shouting at the staff of the airline concerned. The airport authority has lodged a complaint at the Airport police station against the passenger for allegedly damaging public property and misbehaving with the staff, climbing onto the conveyor belt and damaging airport property without any provocation," he said.

The officials from the Central Industrial Security Force intervened and handled the situation. Later, the passenger travelled to Kolkata via a connecting flight through New Delhi, the officer said.

The flight operator arranged refreshments for the passengers and provided flight coupons of Rs 5,000 as compensation, he said.

"We have registered an FIR and an investigation is under way," said Rabindranath Meher, IIC, Airport police station.

The airline concerned did not issue any statement on the matter till the filing of this report.