Cyclone Fengal: A chilling video surfaced in which an IndiGo Airlines' Airbus A320 neo plane is seen struggling to make a landing at the Chennai airport amid adverse weather conditions caused by Cyclone Fengal on Saturday. The video shows the flight escaped a major accident when the pilot attempted to land. The flight took off, aborting the landing process moments before touching down on the surface amid strong wind and heavy rains.
What IndiGo Airlines has to say
IndiGo Airlines issued a statement confirming the incident and said that the Mumbai-Chennai flight had to make a "go-around" due to adverse weather conditions.
The statement said, "Due to adverse weather conditions including rain and strong winds (which later led to the closure of Chennai airport), the cockpit crew of flight 6E 683 operating between Mumbai and Chennai performed a go-around on November 30, 2024 as per established safety protocols."
The airlines said such procedures are part of standard protocols and pilots are properly trained to handle such situations in a professional manner.
"This is a standard and safe manoeuvre and our pilots are extensively trained to handle such situations in the utmost professional manner. When a safe landing is not possible, a go-around is performed, as was the case with this flight," IndiGo said.
The aircraft reportedly landed safely in Chennai at 12:40 pm on Saturday. The airport operations were suspended from 2 pm on Saturday till 4 am today due to bad weather.
Cyclone Fengal: Chennai airport suspends operations on Saturday
Earlier, operations at the Chennai airport were suspended on Saturday due to gutsy winds and heavy rains caused by cyclone 'Fengal', resulting in multiple flight cancellations and impacting hundreds of passengers. Parts of the airport were inundated due to the heavy rains.
"In light of Cyclonic Storm 'Fengal' and the forecasted high crosswinds, as predicted by IMD, Chennai Airport operations will be suspended from 1230 hrs to 1900 hrs on 30.11.2024 (Today) following safety concerns raised by stakeholder airlines. We recommend passengers check with their respective airlines regarding their flights," Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a post on X.
IndiGo, in a post on X at 6.06 pm, said the weather in Chennai has not improved, and flights to/from the city continue to stay impacted. "We are constantly monitoring the situation as we work to keep you informed," it added.
Earlier in the day, the airline said all flights to/from the city had been cancelled. IndiGo operates more than 120 daily direct flights to 38 domestic and 11 international destinations.
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