HYDERABAD: Two flights belonging to Indigo and Spicejet were grounded reportedly after developing technical snags as they were ready to take-off from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here on Wednesday. However, both the flights did not belong to the Airbus 320 neo class of engines that were grounded following DGCA’s orders. The Indigo flight to Raipur and Spicejet flight to Delhi, each carrying over 100 passengers, were grounded.The Indigo flight at 10:25 am later left for its destination by 2:30 pm whereas, the Spice Jet which was to leave at 1:40 pm finally took-off at 4:05 pm.
According to an airport spokesperson, an IndiGo flight (6E-334) from Hyderabad to Raipur developed a technical snag within minutes of taking off from the airport around 10.40 am. It was called back soon afterwards for repairs. The passengers were off-loaded and directed towards an alternative aircraft that took off at 2.10 pm. The snag was due to “over limit exhaust gas temperature (EGT) in one of its engines”. The flight crew responded to the problem in accordance with the standard operating procedure, they added. Meanwhile, another aircraft belonging to SpiceJet (SG-942) from Hyderabad to New Delhi was stranded on the tarmac for over two hours due to a technical reason. The aircraft was towed out within minutes and the flight departed to Delhi,” said an official statement from SpiceJet.
DGCA approval will take longer than expected, airline officials
Meanwhile, owing to the DGCA orders, Indigo on Wednesday cancelled 42 flight services nationally, four of those were Hyderabad inbound flights from Delhi, Cochin and two flights from Bengaluru. Similarly, GoAir also cancelled six flight services and one of which was an inbound flight to Hyderabad. The ambiguity surrounding the flight operations are expected to continue till March 25. An airline official on condition of anonymity said “It’s not possible to fix these flights within a short span. Once the problematic parts are replaced it will take another few weeks before getting DGCA approval.”