Collision between India-bound planes averted in Dubai, DGCA asks UAE to share probe report

Indian aviation regulator DGCA has asked its UAE counterpart to share the report of the probe into the near collision of two India-bound Emirates passenger jets on January 9 at the Dubai airport. The planes had come on the same runway during take-off from the airport.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to share its investigation report on this incident.

DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI on Friday: ''Both are their registered aircraft and the place of occurrence is their airport and so, as per ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), it will be investigated by them.'' ''However, we have asked them to share the investigation report as and when available,'' he mentioned.

The two Emirates jets that had a close shave on January 9 were the Dubai-Hyderabad flight (EK-524) and the Dubai-Bengaluru flight (EK-568), sources said.

The EK-524 was accelerating to take off just when EK-568 came on the same runway, they noted. Therefore, EK-524's take off was rejected by the air traffic controller, the sources mentioned. EK-524 was scheduled to depart at 9.45 PM while EK-568 was scheduled to take off at 9.50 PM, they said.

In a statement, an Emirates spokesperson said, “On 9 January, flight EK524 was instructed by air traffic control to reject take-off on departure from Dubai and this was completed successfully. There was no aircraft damage, nor were there any injuries.'' ''Safety is always our top priority, and as with any incident we are conducting our own internal review. The incident is also under investigation by the UAE AAIS and we are unable to comment further,” the spokesperson added.