Flight averts landing at wrong airport

mumbai — A Singapore Airlines flight on Monday was about to land on the small Juhu airport, mistaking it for the international airport, before the error was detected in the nick of time for it to land at the scheduled airstrip, officials said.

The Singapore-Mumbai flight SQ422, an Airbus A-350, was cleared to land on Runway 9 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 10.35am but due to poor visibility, the pilots discontinued approach to Runway 9 at around 1,000 feet in accordance with the standard operating procedures, the airlines said later.

“The Air Traffic Control, Mumbai, then vectored the flight for a subsequent approach onto the same runway and the flight landed uneventfully at 10.48am,” it added.

“At no time did the pilots of SQ422 mistake Juhu airport for the international airport,” the airline statement said.

Airport sources, however, said after it was noticed that the aircraft was about to land on the wrong airstrip, it was made to go around while landing clearance was awaited, which was granted by the ATC. The plane finally landed safely on Runway 9 a few minutes later.

Both the airports are about 1.5km apart, regarding which a caution is issued to all pilots.

The Juhu airport, built in 1928, is used for general aviation activities and training purposes. —