THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two Air India Express flights experienced technical failure triggering panic among the passengers at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport here on Monday.
An Air India Express flight ( AX B613) from Tiruchirapalli Airport to Sharjah with 161 passengers on board made an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport due to a suspected gear malfunction.
The second Air India Express Thiruvananthapuram- Bahrain flight (IX573) with 180 passengers on board, which was about to take off at 11.06 am, abandoned its take off due to technical reasons from the runway itself and returned back to bay 43.
A full emergency was declared at the Thiruvananthapuram airport after the pilots of the flights alerted the emergency control room in Thiruvananthapuram. According to airport officials, it was a safe landing at 12.01 p.m. of AXB613., and no casualties were reported.
In the IX573 flight, the passengers said that they had heard a sound while the flight was moving on the runway just before taking off.
The AX B613 Aircraft experienced a technical failure while flying after it took off from the Tiruchirapalli airport around 11.15 am. The flight was about to land at Sharjah Airport around 3 p.m. It is suspected that the hydraulic gear of the aircraft was damaged. The flight crew decided to land in Thiruvananthapuram, as this airport is the safest airport for emergency landings in the state. The airport authorities cleared the runway prior to the safe landing of the aircraft.
After landing, the passengers were shifted to the transit lounge of the airport. The flights have been shifted to the Air India Express hangar unit for repair work.