Indigo’s Delhi-shirdi flight makes priority landing at Mumbai

MUMBAI: An Indigo A320neo aircraft, flying to Shirdi from Delhi, made priority landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Sunday around 7pm owing to hydraulic failure. It had to be towed from the runway to the bay. However, the status of the passengers was not clear till the time of going to press.

“An Indigo A320, operating a Delhi- Shirdi (6E-2019) flight, received a caution message on one of the hydraulic systems. So as a precaution, the pilot diverted to Mumbai. The aircraft is currently at Mumbai and shall be back in operation after necessary inspections,” an Indigo spokesperson said.

Airport sources said that the pilot requested Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) to provide towing assistance on landing.

“The flight with 64 passengers on board landed safely at 7pm, around an hour after it took off from Delhi. The runway was vacated after the narrow body aircraft was towed away to the allotted bay. All the operations however remained unaffected,” said an airport official.

The airport at Shirdi is not equipped with night landing facility, owing to which flight operations do not take place after sunset.

Indigo has been facing snags with the A320neo aircraft since 2017, following which Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in December 2019 directed that the two airlines replace them with modified versions by May 31 this year. The deadline was extended to August after supply chains and production lines were hit owing to the ongoing pandemic.

On July 29, Indigo’s chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-schaeur informed analysts that the airline will finish replacing its last batch of 14 A320neo engines by August 31.