A Fly91 flight from Hyderabad to Hubballi was diverted to Bengaluru on Sunday after adverse weather conditions prevented landing at Hubballi airport, officials said. The aircraft remained airborne for several hours, triggering panic among passengers, some of whom were seen praying and in tears.
The officials maintained that all passengers were safe.
The flight, which departed from Hyderabad at around 3 pm, was scheduled to land in Hubballi 90 minutes later, but couldn't due to unfavourable weather, sources said.
Due to the bad weather, the flight was diverted to Bengaluru, an official said.
According to the official, the aircraft hovered over Hubballi, located about 400 km from here, for about an hour in anticipation of improvement in weather conditions before being diverted.
"This is general practice. Aircrafts circle in the air for some time waiting for the weather to improve. It is the pilot's decision," he said.
The flight landed in Bengaluru at around 6.30 pm and was flown back to Hubballi at about 11 pm after the situation improved, the official added.
Sources said there were 22 passengers on board.
Officials also pointed to similar disruptions in the region, noting that a Mumbai-Kolhapur service was diverted to Goa due to weather conditions.
All passengers were safe. There is no issue, the official said.
In a statement, FLY91 said the flight encountered bad weather upon nearing its destination due to which it was diverted to Bengaluru as per standard protocol.
The flight subsequently returned to Hubballi and back to its home base in Hyderabad, the statement added.
Fly91 said there was zero compromise to safety.
Holding the aircraft over Hubballi and diverting to Bengaluru was part of the standard operating procedure.
This is among the "best practices" adopted by the industry.
"FLY91 has a highly skilled team of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff which are trained to manage any situation which may come up. The regional airline has an impeccable safety record," it added.
The airlines said the aircraft did not develop any technical snag as reported in a section of the media.
"Information in some news reports pointing to a technical issue faced by the aircraft is false and baseless," the statement read.
(With inputs from PTI)