US government orders probe into protracted delay of ExpressJet Airlines Flight 2816 on tarmac

The government of the United States has initiated an investigation into whether any laws were violated when passengers were stranded overnight on the airport tarmac in Rochester in Minnesota. The Department of Transportation has sent Continental Airlines, based in Houston, Texas, the United States, a letter demanding details of the ExpressJet Airlines Flight 2816.

Flight 2816, of ExpressJet Airlines, a regional feeder airline for Continental Airlines, left Houston at 9.23 p.m. on August 8, 2009, but landed at its destination in Minneapolis only by mid-morning the next day.

In Rochester, passengers were forced to sit in the 50-seat plane, which was packed to capacity, from about 12:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., before they were allowed to go inside the airport.

The affected passengers who were left high and dry inside the plane complained of “pungent” air, un-flushed toilets, having to go without food, and two babies crying.

In an interview later, one passenger said that the people inside the plane were sleep-deprived, too.

Flight 2816 had been diverted to Rochester, about 90 miles south of Minneapolis, owing to thunderstorms in Minneapolis.

In a statement, Ray LaHood, US Transportation Secretary, said the inspector- general of the Department of Transportation is conducting the inquiry into the unusual delay on the tarmac.

While the Department of Transportation does not yet have all the facts, LaHood explained, the incident, as reported, is “very troubling” and added that the department “will do whatever it can” to make sure that the passengers are not subjected to such situations in future.

LaHood said that he wanted to know whether Continental Airlines or ExpressJet Airlines had violated any laws in causing the delay on the airport tarmac.

In a press release, an official of Continental Airlines said that the company is working with the officials of the US Department of Transportation in order to “respond quickly” to the department’s investigation.

Meanwhile, aviation regulators in the United States are planning to frame rules that will deal with delays in which airline passengers are compelled to stay on board grounded aircraft for long periods of time.

A piece of legislation now pending in the United States Senate includes a provision that requires carriers to return passengers to the gate after a 3-hour delay on tarmac.

The proposed legislation also gives the captain of the affected flight the power to extend the tarmac wait by a half an hour “provided he has reason to believe that clearance for takeoff is likely to come soon.”

It also empowers the captain not to return the passengers to the gate if he feels that doing so is not safe.

The US media quoted Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, as saying that more needs to be done to protect “passenger rights” and to formulate “clear processes” for the proper treatment of passengers during prolonged flight delays.