Furious passengers banged on plane doors after being locked onboard for five hours allegedly without any air conditioning - leaving them sick and suffocating.

Hundreds of passengers were flying with Air India from Mumbai to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates but departure was delayed on January 25.

With passengers already boarded, the Boeing 787 Dreamline was found to have a 'technical issue' and remained parked on the tarmac.

But after some five hours of waiting in the sweltering heat, stress levels rose and dozens of angry 'suffocating' travellers began pounding on the doors demanding to be let off the plane.

Footage shows the chaotic scenes inside the aircraft, where the pilot 'stayed hiding in the cockpit' as cabin crew battled to calm the situation.

Tejasvi Anandkumar Soni, who recorded the video, said: 'This was a horrible experience for all the passengers flying with Air India to Dubai on flight AI909.

'The flight was supposed to take off at 8:25 AM and was delayed for five hours with passengers, including toddlers and senior citizens, on board without the air condition system working.

'Passengers started feeling suffocated and yet the crew did not provide relief until passengers forced them to open the gates and deboard.

'This was truly not the kind of experience we expected from an airline owned by one of the most accountable business houses Tata Trusts.

The captain did not once come out of the cockpit to address the passengers to assuage the situation but only waited inside until passengers lost their calm after five hours of waiting patiently.

'It is high time the aviation ministry starts to handle such incidents with the strictest of actions. Why should the passengers be always on the receiving end?'

Flight records show the plane was due to depart for the Middle East for the two-and-a-half-hour journey at 8:25 am local time.

However, due to the delay, it did not leave the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai until 4:32 pm.

Irritated passengers arrived at the Dubai International Airport eight hours later than scheduled.

Air India did not reply to requests for comment.

The airline is generally regarded as one of the worst carriers in the world. It was ranked a lowly 90 out of hundreds by the aviation industry consultant Skytrax in the World's Top 100 Airlines 2024.