National carrier Air India cancelled a Jeddah-bound flight from the city via Hyderabad late Friday night, eight hours after its scheduled departure time and without offering any reason to around 300 harried passengers.

Flight AI 965 was scheduled to take off at 1500 hrs but the airline informed the passengers only at around 2300 hrs that it was being pulled out of operations.

A harried passenger, VKS Menon, who was flying with his wife and his elderly mother-in-law to Hyderabad, told PTI that the airline staff was not forthcoming in offering any explanation for the inordinate delay.

The staff finally announced that they were cancelling the flight around 2300 hrs, he said.

Though the airline offered hotel accommodation or taxi fares to the stranded passengers, it did not confirm the next flight details or details about refunds.

The AI spokesperson was not available for comments about the cancellation.

The double-decker Boeing 747 aircraft was scheduled to depart for Jeddah from the city airport at 1500 hrs but remained grounded for over 8 hrs as the aircraft first suffered a technical glitch and then, there was slot availability issue at the Hyderabad airport, a source told PTI earlier in the day.

An Air India official had confirmed the delay earlier and said the airline was awaiting landing permission from the Hyderabad airport.

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