Major accident averted as 2 flights come face-to-face in Mumbai
What's the story
A major aviation disaster was narrowly avoided at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Tuesday night. An Air India flight, which was preparing to take off, and an Air India Express plane that had just landed were both on the same runway, per PTI. The incident took place around 10:00pm when air traffic control (ATC) intervened and aborted the take-off of the Delhi-bound Air India flight.
Official statement
Aircraft to undergo mandatory inspections: Air India
Air India confirmed the incident in a statement, saying, "The crew operating flight AI816 from Mumbai to Delhi on July 7 discontinued the take-off run after receiving an instruction to do so from the Air Traffic Control and returned to the bay." The airline also said that the aircraft would undergo mandatory inspections before being cleared for service.
Flight information
No injuries or damages reported
The Air India flight was reportedly scheduled to be operated with a wide-body Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, while the Air India Express flight AIX1547, which had arrived from Siliguri, was operated with a narrow-body Boeing 737 MAX 8. No injuries or damages were reported on either aircraft. It was not immediately clear what led both planes to be on the same runway at the same time.
Past occurrence
Similar incident at Ahmedabad airport last month
On June 24, a similar situation arose at Ahmedabad airport when an Air India plane came in front of an IndiGo aircraft on the same taxiway. The Air India plane took a wrong turn while taxiing towards the parking area after landing in Mumbai, according to PTI. "The Air India aircraft was towed to parking stand," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had then said.