MUMBAI: An engine snag forced the commander of a Mumbai-Bengaluru Air India flight with 135 passengers on board to reject its take off at the last minute and return the aircraft to the bay this evening.
All passengers were deplaned safely and the airline arranged another aircraft to ferry them to their destination, its spokesperson later said.
"The flight AI 607 was taxiing for take off for Bengaluru when the pilot experienced vibrations in one of the engines of Airbus A321 aircraft and then it got stopped suddenly. The pilot immediately aborted the take-off and returned to the bay," a source said.
The incident is being investigated by the aviation regulator DGCA, the source added.
The Air India spokesperson said the pilot had to reject the take off due an "engine glitch".
"As this aircraft was not airworthy, we arranged an alternative plane to fly the passengers to Bengaluru," he said.
The flight with replaced aircraft took off from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here for Bengaluru around 20.20 hours.