CHENNAI: An Indigo A-320 neo aircraft flying from Chennai to Kuwait declared emergency in the early hours of Friday and landed back at the Chennai airport soon after the departure due to a fire alarm, which later turned out to be false.
The A320neo plane had taken off around 1.20 am with 154 passengers and five crew members. Immediately, within 15 minutes a fire alarm at the aircraft went off forcing the pilots to relay emergency code 7700 to Air Traffic control.
Chennai Airport Director S Sreekumar said that immediately after the message, fire engines and firemen were pressed into service. the passengers were deboarded and aircraft was checked.
Airport sources said the fire alarm was found to be false because of faulty smoke detectors in the cargo compartment. However, a clearer picture will emerge only after Director General of Civil Aviation
enquiry into the incident.
An Indigo statement said that after take-off from chennai, the pilot observed momentary message of the smoke detector in the air cargo compartment. "As a precaution, the pilot returned to Chennai. The
aircraft will be back in operations shortly. Alternate arrangements for all passengers were made," said Indigo in a statement.