IndiGo Kochi-Abu Dhabi Flight Faces Technical Snag Mid-Air; Passengers Deplaned
An IndiGo flight bound to Abu Dhabi had to return to Kochi early on Saturday after facing technical snag mid-air. The flight was airborne for over two hours, as per the sources.
There were more than 180 passengers and six crew members onboard the aircraft, sources told.
IndiGo has not yet commented on the incident.
Flight 6E-1403 (COK-AUH) departed from Kochi at 11:10 pm on Friday but had to return at around 1:44 am on Saturday due to the technical snag, according to sources.
Passengers were later flown to Abu Dhabi on another aircraft, which took off at approximately 3.30 am with a new set of crew members, as the original crew had to be replaced due to flight duty time limitations.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24.com indicated that the flight 6E1403, which returned mid-way, was operated using an A320 neo aircraft.
A Nagpur-Kolkata IndiGo flight returned to the airport here following a bird strike soon after take-off on Tuesday morning, a senior airport official said.
As a precautionary measure, the plane, carrying 160 to 165 passengers, had to return to the Nagpur airport, the official told.
The flight has been cancelled, the official added.
A spokesperson of the airline in a statement said, “IndiGo flight 6E 812 operating from Nagpur to Kolkata on September 2 encountered a bird strike soon after take-off. As a precautionary step, pilots decided to turn back and the flight landed safely at the Nagpur airport.”
“Due to the requirement of necessary inspection and maintenance of the aircraft, the flight has been cancelled for the day. To minimize inconvenience to our customers, we offered them refreshments, made alternate arrangements and/or a full refund on cancellation, if opted for,” the spokesperson added.
