Vistara said the "unruly" passenger was offloaded after he denied to comply with air safety rules

A passenger on board a Vistara flight was offloaded at the Delhi airport on Friday after he insisted that he should be allowed to smoke inside the cabin. The aircraft was preparing to take off for Kolkata when the "unruly" passenger demanded he needed to smoke, the airline said in a statement.

As a result, Vistara flight UK 707 was delayed by over three hours, news agency ANI reported.

Smoking is not allowed inside the aircraft in domestic flights.

"...We had an unruly passenger who insisted on smoking on board. He was issued a warning letter by the captain and later offloaded when he denied to comply with air safety rules. Vistara regrets the delay," a Vistara spokesperson said.

The same aircraft was earlier flying as Vistara flight UK 946 on the Delhi-Amritsar route. The airline said a passenger in that flight asked to be offloaded with his family due to a personal emergency. "...As a result of which the aircraft had to return to bay and undergo security rescreening, causing delay in departure," the Vistara spokesperson said.

The aircraft then operated as UK 707 on the Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata route.

With inputs from ANI