New Delhi: A major accident was averted after Air India and IndiGo planes came face-to-face on the runway at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) on Friday, triggering panic among authorities and passengers. The incident was averted due to the alertness of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials.
A Goa-bound Air India flight (AI-156) from IGI airport with 122 passengers, including crew members and three infants on board, was given the go-ahead for takeoff by the ATC from runway 28/10. However, at the same time, an IndiGo flight from Ranchi (6E-398) was cleared for landing on the nearby runway 27/09, said sources.
The mistake was realised in time and the Air India flight was asked to abort its takeoff immediately and the IndiGo flight was told to stop landing and make a ‘go around’.
Sources said that both the pilots followed the standard operating procedure (SOP). The incident took place not long before Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the airport to receive his Bangladesh counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, who came on a four-day visit.
The IndiGo flight was cleared to land but while touchdown, it saw the Air India plane at the converging point of runways and took off again following procedure but probably baffling its passengers.
Meanwhile, the Air India aircraft finally took off at 12.50 pm. The IndiGo plane landed on the runway 27 minutes after what in aviation parlance is called a near-miss.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation sources said that runway 27 and 28 are converging runways on which one flight is allowed to land and go around while the other is kept ready for take-off. The DGCA said, “There were no safety issue, no collision issue, and no infringement. Therefore, nowhere was safety compromised.”
