BENGALURU: A Star Air flight carrying 27 flyers plus five crew members had an emergency landing at Bengaluru airport on Sunday evening due to a technical glitch. It landed safely at Terminal 1 of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The airline has sent the passengers by road to their destination.
Flight No S5 217 was supposed to take off at 12.35 pm from Tirupati and reach Kolhapur at 1.45 pm. The Embraer E-145 twin-jet aircraft had a delayed take-off and left Tirupati only at 3.16 pm.
An airline source said, “The pilot encountered a technical problem mid-air after the take-off and alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Bengaluru airport as it was the nearest airport. It is also the base for Star Air. So, the flight was diverted here. There was no problem and the flight landed safely.”
The issue was due to a problem with one component in the flight, he elaborated. “We initially thought we could fly the passengers from Bengaluru after rectifying the technical snag at KIA. But the component is not available right now here and we had to cancel the flight,” the airline source added.
An airport source said, “The pilot declared an emergency situation. The ATC informed BIAL and landing clearance was given. All emergency protocols were followed. The protocols were lifted after a safe landing.”
KIA operator, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) confirmed the development. A source said, “The flight had a safe landing at Terminal 1 at 3.55 pm.”
Star Air offered refreshments to the passengers. “The airline has also offered them a full refund of the flight fare. Since there is no other flight to Kolhapur today from Bengaluru, we also made arrangements for the flyers to leave by road and have paid the bus fare too,” the airline source added.