A Bhopal-bound Air India flight (AI 633) from Mumbai had to make a “priority landing” at Bhopal airport on Sunday afternoon after the crew reported a “technical issue” mid-flight, PTI reported citing airport officials.
A priority landing, is signalled with a “Pan-Pan” call and is used when the issue is not critical but still requires the aircraft to land ahead of schedule to avoid any potential escalation. However, an emergency landing, typically declared with a “Mayday” call, indicates an immediate and life-threatening situation, such as an engine fire or complete loss of control.
The aircraft, carrying 175 people (166 passengers and 9 crew members), landed safely at 3:20 pm. Everyone on board was fine and the airport and airline teams provided all necessary assistance, according to the report.
What happened during the flight?
The crew reported a “technical issue” to Air Traffic Control (ATC) while operating the flight from Mumbai to Bhopal. All standard safety protocols were immediately activated, with smooth coordination between ATC, airline staff, CISF, and the airport’s fire and rescue team.
“The flight reported a technical issue to ATC during the flight from Mumbai to Bhopal,” the news agency quoted the Airports Authority of India (AAI) that runs Bhopal airport, as saying.
Return flight cancelled
After landing, the aircraft underwent inspection and was declared unserviceable, indicating it was not fit to operate further without repairs. As a precaution, the airline cancelled the return leg – flight AI 634 from Bhopal to Mumbai – which had 178 passengers booked. The move was taken to allow engineers to carry out a detailed assessment and complete the necessary rectification work on the aircraft, the report mentioned.
“Due to the technical issue, the aircraft was declared unserviceable, and as a precautionary measure, the return flight AI-634 (Bhopal to Mumbai) was cancelled by the airline to facilitate detailed inspection and rectification,” the airport statement said.
Similar incident reported same day
Earlier on Sunday, a SWISS International Air Lines flight headed to Zurich was forced to abort takeoff at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport after an engine failure triggered a fire scare. Four passengers were injured during the evacuation on the runway.
The incident involved flight LX 147, operated on an Airbus A330, carrying over 230 people, including 106 foreign nationals and 126 Indian nationals along with crew members.