Hyderabad: Air India flight 559 to New Delhi had to return to the Shamshabad airport on Monday after it took off without a passenger, but with his luggage onboard. To make matters worse, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan was travelling to New Delhi on the flight.

As per standard procedures, an aircraft cannot fly with a person’s baggage if the person is not on board.

Air India staff realised the security lapse only after the passenger reported at the boarding gate after the flight had taken off.

An inquiry into the matter is going on and security personnel who questioned the passenger have concluded that there was nothing suspicious about the passenger and his background.

The passenger, however, could not board the flight after it returned as he had to be questioned by security personnel.

During final boarding, a passenger tally has to be made to ensure that no one is left behind. If a passenger is missing, his or her luggage is offloaded before the flight takes off. However, the Air India flight that that took off at 6.40 am on Monday did not comply with the “standard procedure” of off-loading the baggage before take off and had to return.

“Flight 559 took off at 6. 40 am on schedule. It returned to the Shamshabad airport at 7. 10 am and took off again at 7. 55 am, delaying the passengers by over an hour. The passenger had reported to the boarding gate after the flight took off but his luggage was not offloaded and was in the flight. As per standard procedure we cannot fly with the luggage of a passenger if he is not on board. It is required to be off-loaded before take-off. The fact that the governor was on the same flight was just a coincidence,” said an official from Air India.

Officials said that an inquiry was in progress and that it was a clear lapse of security on part of the ground crew. Once the reason for the lapse was established, action would be taken against the staff responsible.