Passengers on board Air India flight AI 542 from New Delhi to Tirupati via Hyderabad, were furious on Tuesday after they were made at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad for several hours on the tarmac.

Times of India reported:

The flight that landed in the city at 12 noon and was scheduled to reach Tirupati at 1.45 pm finally took off from the airport at 7.25 pm with 131 passengers on board. Twenty-five passengers aborted their journey.

Reports suggest that though there was no official announcement, rumours varied from a technical snag, to a 'bird hit' to a hydraulic problem.

Speaking to TOI, Uday Sehgal from New Delhi, one of the passengers, said:

“We were literally stranded on the tarmac. The complete lack of any clarity just made matters worse. Suddenly after picking up speed on the runway, moments before take-off, the pilot jammed the brakes that brought the plane to a screeching halt. All of us were petrified. We demanded that the flight be immediately returned to the bay and all passengers be accommodated on another aircraft." 

Throughout this incident, AI authorities claimed that the aircraft would soon take off for Tirupati again, and finally landed at the temple town after 8 pm, more than six hours late.