Image used for representative purpose only.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An IndiGo flight operating from Jabalpur to Hyderabad was diverted to Nagpur on Sunday (September 1, 2024) morning due to a bomb hoax.

“Flight 6E 7308, en route from Jabalpur to Hyderabad, was diverted to Nagpur following a bomb threat. Upon landing, all passengers were safely disembarked, and the necessary security checks were promptly carried out. Assistance and refreshments were provided to all passengers, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the airline stated in a press statement.

The ATR 72-600 aircraft departed from Jabalpur Airport at 8:07 a.m. and was initially scheduled to arrive at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 9:55 a.m. However, it was diverted midway and landed at Nagpur’s Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at 10:16 a.m.

An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Bagdogra has been delayed for over two hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital due to a technical snag which resulted from high ground temperatures.

The aircraft is parked on the tarmac and the IndiGo crew has said the flight has suffered a technical snag, resulting in the delay. 

The Bagdogra airport is located near Siliguri in West Bengal. The flight was scheduled to take off at 2:10 pm and land at 4:10 pm. Online flight tracking platform FlightRadar24 shows the flight parked on the tarmac of the IGI airport. 

“Delhi and Bagdogra was delayed due to high ground temperatures impeding operations. IndiGo prioritises passenger safety above all else and is taking steps to enable a prompt departure. Passengers are being provided with regular updates and we regret the inconvenience caused due to factors beyond the airline’s control,” IndiGo said in a statement.

IndiGo operates the Airbus A20N, A32N and A21N aircraft on the Delhi-Bagdogra route. 

NDTV’s Vedanta Agarwal, who is on the delayed flight and is travelling to the West Bengal train accident site, said, “The IndiGo crew informed that they will be deboarding the passengers soon and arrange another aircraft, but there is no clarity on that yet.” 

#BREAKING | Bagdogra-bound Delhi flight delayed due to technical snag, says Indigo@AgarwalVedanta reports pic.twitter.com/UFEtaERLzE

— NDTV (@ndtv) June 17, 2024

Mr Agarwal said, “The deboarding is yet to begin and the passengers are getting impatient. It is one of the three flights to the train mishap site and the last flight of the day to Bagdogra, which is 60 km from the accident spot.”

Mt Agarwal, quoting the IndiGo PRO, said, “High temperature triggered a technical snag in the aircraft, which is why refuelling could not be done properly.”

“The crew is serving refreshments and providing water to the passengers but there is no clear communication from the officials. Some passengers told me that they heard of the accident and some of their relatives were on the train,” he added.

Nine people, including three Railway employees, have died and about 50 others injured after an express train collided with a goods train in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal this morning. Kanchanjunga Express was travelling from Agartala in Tripura to Sealdah in Kolkata when a goods train hit it from the rear near Rangapani station, close to New Jalpaiguri.

Three coaches of Kanchanjunga Express were derailed in the crash. One factor which limited casualties is the fact that the rear part of Kanchanjunga Express comprised of the parcel coach and the guard’s coach and the passenger compartments further ahead suffered less impact. 

New Delhi:

A Varanasi-bound IndiGo flight today received a bomb threat at the Delhi airport, prompting authorities to inspect the plane, officials said.

The flight, 6E2211, was scheduled to take off from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport around 5 am and was stopped on the runway minutes before departure.

“At 05:40 am, a phone call was received from the IGI airport regarding a bomb threat. A message ‘BOMB BLAST @30 MINUTES’ was written on a piece of paper inside the lavatory of the flight and was found by the pilot,” an official said.

The aircraft, with 176 passengers onboard, was immediately taken to the isolation bay for further necessary action, the official said, adding that a quick response team was deployed, which has so far not found any suspicious items.

All passengers were deboarded through the emergency door and are safe, the official said.

#WATCH | Passengers of the IndiGo flight 6E2211 operating from Delhi to Varanasi were evacuated through the emergency door after a bomb threat was reported on the flight. All passengers are safe, flight is being inspected.

(Viral video confirmed by Aviation authorities) https://t.co/el2q5jCatxpic.twitter.com/ahVc0MSiXz

— ANI (@ANI) May 28, 2024

The IndiGo also released an official statement and said that the aircraft was taken to a remote bay as per guidelines by airport security agencies.

“The flight is currently undergoing inspection. Post completion of all security checks, the aircraft will be positioned back in the terminal area,” the airline said.

ALSO READ | Mumbai Cops Receive Hoax Message Threatening To Blow Up Taj Hotel, Airport

Earlier this month, a tissue paper with the word ‘bomb’ written on it was found on an Air India flight lavatory at Delhi airport, but it had turned out to be a hoax.

Police had said that they received information regarding a tissue paper found in the lavatory of an Air India flight scheduled to depart for Vadodara on May 15, with the word ‘bomb’ written on it.

“Following standard security protocols, a thorough inspection was conducted, and no suspicious items were found,” an official had said.

Several hospitals and schools in Delhi have recently been targeted with bomb threat emails, that claimed the presence of explosives on their premises. However, investigators found the threats to be false alarms.

Bhubaneswar:

A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight made an emergency landing at the airport here on Monday due to some technical snag, an official said.

All passengers are safe, he said.

The aircraft made the landing 40 minutes after taking off from the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA).

“After the detection of technical problems mid-air, the Delhi-bound IndiGo flight made the emergency landing at the airport at 8.20 am,” BPIA Director Prasanna Pradhan told PTI.

A full-scale emergency was declared, and the aircraft landed safely at the airport, he said.

“All passengers are safe. We suspect that the technical problem was developed due to a bird hit,” the official said, adding that the aircraft can again fly only after getting clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

“Shortly after taking off, the pilot informed us about the technical problem and the aircraft made the landing at the Bhubaneswar airport safely,” Trinath Lenka, a passenger on the flight, said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An IndiGo Airlines cabin baggage security check tag is pictured on a passenger’s luggage at Bengaluru International Airport in Bangalore. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

IndiGo’s attempts to save about six kg of fuel per flight, by recommending soft landings using only three of an aircraft’s wing flaps, may be leading to an increase in unsafe landings, according to its pilots.

On Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) imposed a fine of ₹30 lakh on IndiGo for tail strikes during recent landings. The airline’s pilots claim that such unsafe landings are a direct result of IndiGo’s “over-emphasis on reducing fuel usage”, as well as mounting fatigue levels among pilots.

Following four tail strike incidents on IndiGo’s Airbus A321 aircraft within a span of six months this year, the regulator carried out a special audit of the airline and found “systemic deficiencies” in “operations, training and engineering procedures”, according to a DGCA statement.

Subsequently, the regulator served a showcause notice on the airline, to which IndiGo responded, insisting that no procedures had been violated. The regulator found its reply unsatisfactory. Apart from imposing the ₹30 lakh fine on the airline, the DGCA has also ordered it to amend its procedures in line with DGCA and Airbus guidelines.

IndiGo said it is examining the DGCA order and will respond to it in due time, indicating that it may even appeal against it.

Risky landings

Responding to The Hindu‘s query on the nature of deficiencies discovered, a senior DGCA official said, “As a company policy, the crew were asked to carry out flap 3 landing every time, which is not in line with the Airbus Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM) procedures.”

A flap 3 landing, known as a soft landing, involves only three of the four flaps on the wing and produces less drag, as a result of which less fuel is burned than in a flap full landing, known as a hard landing. But during a flap 3 landing, the aircraft’s nose is pitched slightly hgher than in flap full, while its tail is down, therefore increasing the chances of a tail strike. The Airbus A321, which was involved in the recent unsafe landing incidents, is longer than the A320 aircraft that dominate IndiGo’s fleet, which means that the risk of a tail strike is higher.

Pilots at IndiGo have been told that a flap 3 landing could save the airline 6 kg of fuel per landing. Though Airbus doesn’t prohibit flap 3 landings, they can be trickier for runways at an elevation such as those in Mumbai (50 feet), Delhi (800 feet), Bengaluru (3000 feet) where there is a possibility of aircraft unable to land within the touchdown zone or overshooting the runway.

Tracking pilots’ fuel usage

Some of the airline’s pilots who spoke to The Hindu on the condition of anonymity said that they preferred not to carry out a flap 3 landing because of the risks involved. Though the airline only recommends the flap 3 landing, letting pilots have the final say, there is always the fear of a “phone call from above”, pilots said. They also worried about how defying the airline’s recommendations could affect their prospects within the company, especially if they wished to apply for a management position.

“What if I am incapacitated? Will my co-pilot be able perform a flap 3 landing? I am not sure, and therefore in the interest of safety I never conduct this form of landing,” said one IndiGo captain.

Another pilot worried that the airline was keeping a strict vigil on how much fuel they each consumed on their flights. “There are meetings where we are shown a graph plotting fuel spent by different pilots. Though the individual data is anonymised, that can’t be hard to extract,” the pilot said.

Pilots also spoke at length about an “exponential increase” in duty timings and mounting fatigue. They urged that the regulator must investigate whether the tail strikes were also due to mental and physical exertion of pilots.

“The tail strikes are a matter of the luck of the draw. Some of those in the cockpit were senior captains who train other pilots. So, why is this happening? Pilots are not getting enough sleep, which is impacting their decision-making capabilities. I sometimes get only 15 hours of rest period between my flights. We are on minimum rest, and maximum duty hours. Has the DGCA looked into pilot fatigue reports submitted to the airline, forcing many of us to report sick to work?” asked a captain at IndiGo with nearly 15 years of experience.

The DGCA has slapped a three-month license suspension on the pilot involved in a tail strike during a landing in Ahmedabad on July 15. The co-pilot’s licence has been suspended for one month.