Kerala: Barely a couple of hours after take-off, an Air India Express flight from the Kerala state capital to Dubai returned, on Sunday. As per the officials, the aircraft returned due to an issue with the air conditioning system of the aircraft. As of now, all 174 passengers were taken to Dubai on another flight (IX 556) at 6.12 pm.
"The flight took off at 1:19 pm and returned at 3:52 pm. All 174 passengers are safe and will soon be taken to Dubai on another flight," Thiruvananthapuram International Airport said.
According to the Thiruvananthapuram airport officials the flight, IX 539, which took off with 174 people onboard -- including the crew -- from here at 1.19 PM returned back and landed safely at 3.52 PM, an airport official said.
"The plane landed safely. All passengers and crew are fine. A local standby was declared. It was an AC issue, " the official said. The passengers are presently at the airport and would be taking off within an hour on another flight arranged by the airline, he added.
An Air India flight was delayed earlier
A few days ago, an Air India Udaipur-Delhi flight was delayed for almost an hour after a passenger raised some issue, an airline official said. Flight AI 470 was delayed by at least an hour and later took off for Delhi after the whole flight was thoroughly checked, said the official.
“There was nothing wrong and the flight had landed safely at Delhi airport,” the official added.
However, while the exact sequence of the development is yet to be ascertained, reports claimed that there was an issue with a power bank of a passenger while charging it inside the flight.
