Plane landed with 1-2 mins of fuel: Delhi police officer; Indigo says enough fuel

PASSENGERS AND crew aboard an Indigo flight from Ayodhya to Delhi faced some nervous moments on Saturday after landing attempts failed due to bad weather conditions. The plane later landed in Chandigarh after a “go-around” procedure.

A senior Delhi police officer claimed that the plane landed in Chandigarh with just a one or two minutes of fuel left, but Indigo said the plane had enough fuel left. The plane departed from Ayodhya at 3.25 pm and was to land in Delhi at 4.30 pm.

Delhi Police Deputy Commissioner (Crime) Satish Kumar put up a post on X on the incident. He said the pilot informed passengers of adverse weather at around 4.15 pm and assured them that the aircraft had 45 minutes of holding fuel, a standard safety measure.

“The pilot attempted landing twice, but couldn’t due to bad weather, and still wasted a lot of time deciding the next course of action,” Kumar said in his post. “At one point, the flight descended and veered dangerously close to the runway before taking off again at the last minute,” Kumar told The Indian Express. “Our hearts really sank then.”

At 5.30 pm, over an hour after the holding fuel announcement, the pilot announced a diversion to Chandigarh, he said. The plane finally landed at 6.10 pm, he said.

An Indigo statement said the flight was diverted to Chandigarh due to bad weather in Delhi. “The captain executed a go-around which is in line with the standard operating procedure. This is an absolutely safe manoeuvre,” it said.

Kumar claimed in his post: “Got to know after landing that we’ve landed in the nick of time withonly1or2minutesoffuelleft from the crew staff.” The Indigo statement rebutted this, saying: “The aircraft had sufficient fuel at all times to divert to an alternate airport, as per regulations...”