KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Air India Express flight to Dammam diverted to Thiruvananthapuram International airport
- Thiruvananthapuram airport announces full emergency to facilitate safe landing
- This is not the first incident wherein an Air India or Air India Express flight has been diverted
A full emergency was declared at the Thiruvananthapuram International airport in Kerala on Friday after a Dammam-bound Air India flight from Calicut was diverted due to technical failure. The flight was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram, and it landed at the airport around 12:15 pm, news agency ANI reported.
The tail part of the Air India Express IX 385 – which was carrying 168 passengers – hit the runway during take-off this morning. The flight took off around 9:44 am from the Calicut airport and flew for around two hours before landing. The airport management declared a full emergency for the landing of this flight, as per sources.
Air India Express sources told news agency ANI, "Air India Express flight IX 385 on Calicut-Dammam with 168 passengers was diverted due to suspected tail strike during take-off. The aircraft made a normal safe landing at Thiruvananthapuram at 1215 hours and passengers deplaned."
The sources further stated that arrangements are being made to send passengers to Dammam via an alternate flight scheduled to take off from the Thiruvananthapuram airport at around 3:30 pm today.
This, however, is not the first time that an Air India flight has been diverted or has made an emergency landing. Last week, an Air India New York to Delhi flight was diverted to London. The flight arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 11:25 pm on the same day.
The flight was headed towards Norway when it decided to turn towards the UK, as per its tracking data. In another instance, Air India Express flight from Dubai sought assistance from the airport after the pilot felt uneasy after landing.
India Today quoted sources as saying, “The pilot felt something uneasy during landing and sought assistance from the ATC. It was a normal landing at the scheduled arrival time of 6:30 am. No emergency was declared by the pilot.”
(With inputs from ANI, India Today)
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