A major accident was averted on Wednesday morning after the air traffic controller at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport was able to alert an IndiGo aircraft that had entered a wrong taxiway where a Jet Airways aircraft was already parked. Although IndiGo authorities blamed “low visibility” for the incident, the director-general of civil aviation has initiated an inquiry, reported PTI.
The incident took place around 5.40 am when visibility on the runway was 125 metres, reported Hindustan Times. The Visakhapatnam-bound aircraft had crossed its allotted runway and “went in the W lane where a Jet Airways aircraft was already stationed”, said airport authorities. The IndiGo flight was allotted runway 28 through the C lane. “Followings this, IndiGo was contacted to arrange push back toe, but it took time and due to poor visibility, toe was guided by a follow-me vehicle,” an airport official told PTI.
The incident hampered operations at IGI airport. About 25 flights were delayed while some others had to be diverted because runway 28 was unusable for more than an hour. “During this period all operations were on hold, causing a heavy congestion and consequently flight delays as well,” said another official.
About a month ago, an air traffic controller was taken off duty after two planes came face-to-face on the runway at Delhi airport. The IndiGo and Spice Jet flights were carrying close to 350 passengers. Both planes switched off their engines as soon as the pilots realised what was happening. On December 27 last year, a Jet Airways flight to Mumbai skidded off the runway before taking off at Goa’s Dabolim Airport. Some passengers were injured during evacuation and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is looking into the incident.
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