NEW DELHI: An Indigo pilot steering a flight from New Delhi to Pune fell ill inside the cockpit just before take-off on Friday (July 4) morning forcing a huge delay in the journey for passengers.

In a strange coincidence, an Air India pilot had a similar experience the same morning just before he was to fly from Bengaluru to New Delhi.

Flight 6E 2262 was supposed to take-off at 6 am from Terminal 1 of Indira Gandhi International Airport. It took off at 10.05 am, according to flight tracking platform, FlightAware.com. An alternative pilot was assigned to fly the A321 Neo flight.

The travel time for the journey between Delhi and Pune is only 2 hrs 45 minutes but the delay was 4 hrs and 5 minutes.

Indigo confirms the incident

In a statement, the airline said, “One of our cockpit crew scheduled to operate IndiGo flight 6E 2262 from Delhi to Pune on July 4 felt unwell before take-off and the aircraft returned to bay, following the standard operating procedures (SOP). We ensured appropriate medical assistance for the unwell crew and an alternative crew was assigned to operate the aircraft, causing a delay in the flight.”

The airline added the flight suffered a further delay due to temporary restrictions at Pune airport.