New Delhi: An Air India flight, bound for Kolkata, aborted its take-off from Delhi at the last moment due to a technical issue on Monday evening. There were 160 passengers on board. According to officials, the aircraft had taxied to the end of the runway and was about to start its take-off run when the pilot detected the snag.
The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were deboarded. The exact cause of the disruption is not known though airport officials confirmed that the incident led to a minor delay for other flights. It is also not known whether the aircraft has been grounded.
The incident comes hours after an Air India Airbus A320 from Kochi in Kerala veered off the runway while landing at the Mumbai airport due to heavy rainfall. There was considerable panic among passengers with memories of the Ahmedabad crash still fresh in their minds.
Sources said that three of the aircraft’s tyres burst during the incident. There was also some external damage to one of the engines. The pilot, however, managed to bring things under control and took the plane to the gate, where passengers and crew deboarded. Nobody was injured in the incident.
The main runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai was slightly damaged due to the accident. Flight operations were maintained through the secondary runway while the damage was inspected and repaired.
