Thiruvananthapuram: A full emergency was declared at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Friday after an Air India Express flight made an emergency landing.
Dammam-bound flight IX-385 from Kozhikode was diverted to the Kerala capital because of suspected hydraulic failure.
The aircraft, with 176 passengers and six crew members on board, suffered a tail strike at the Kozhikode airport runway while taking off around 9.45 am, reported The New Indian Express. The hydraulic gear of the plane was likely to have been damaged.
The aircraft, which dumped fuel into the sea from the sky near Vizhinjam, went through a mid-air scare of two hours before landing safely at Thiruvananthapuram, without any casualty.
Watch the video shared by ANI on Twitter:
#WATCH | Dammam bound Air India Express flight from Calicut diverted to Thiruvananthapuram due to technical reasons lands safely at the airport. A full emergency was declared at the Thiruvananthapuram airport for the landing of this flight pic.twitter.com/22EunuU0n5
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2023
Air India Express said in a statement that the flight made emergency landing due to technical issues.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The pilot tried to land at Nedumbassery Airport in Kochi, but authorities there informed the crew about difficulties for an emergency landing.
The crew then decided to land at Thiruvananthapuram as it’s the safest airport for emergency landing in Kerala.
Once the aircraft landed safely, passengers were shifted to the airport’s transit lounge. A special flight will be arranged later to transport them to their destination.
