Karnataka: Dubai-bound Indigo aircraft suffers bird hit on runway, take-off cancelled

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On Thursday morning, a Dubai-bound IndiGo aircraft moving on the runway of the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) suffered a bird hit.

According to the airport sources, this forced the cancellation of the take-off.

Sources told PTI that the incident occurred at around 8.30 am.

The bird hit one of the wings of the IndiGo aircraft, which was all set to take off.

The pilot immediately informed the Air Traffic Control and the take-off was aborted.

Around 160 passengers were deboarded from the Dubai-based IndiGo flight.

"The incident caused anxious moments at the airport for some time. Later, alternate arrangements were made for the passengers to travel to Dubai by another flight, which arrived from Bengaluru. The grounded flight is being inspected by the technicians," the airport sources said.

The rescheduled Dubai-bound flight left at 11.05 am.

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In a statement made by Mangaluru International Airport authorities, they said that the flight 6E 1467 IXE-DXB (8.25 am departure) suffered a bird hit as it entered the runway from the taxiway. The pilot informed the ATC and returned to the apron at 8.30 am. All the passengers were deplaned and the aircraft was declared aircraft on ground (AOG) for a thorough engineering inspection.

"IndiGo has made alternate travel arrangements for the 165 passengers who were scheduled to fly to Bengaluru on flight 6E 5347 (scheduled departure at 9.10 am). There was no panic as reported," the statement said.

(with inputs from PTI)