Air India flight diverted to Kerala due to 'suspected' tail strike

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Dammam-bound Air India Express flight from Kozhikode, was on Friday diverted to the international airport here, following a 'suspected' tail strike during take off.

The Air India Express flight IX 385, carrying 168 passengers, landed safely at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at 12.15 PM, following which airport authorities withdrew the full emergency which was declared earlier.

Air India said the flight on Kozhikode-Dammam route was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram due to suspected tail strike while taking off from Calicut airport.

The airlines made arrangements to send the passengers to Dammam by an alternate flight which is scheduled to take off from Thiruvananthapuram this evening itself.

''The airline staff are attending to all the requirements of the passengers at Thiruvananthapuram,'' Air India said in a release.

Meanwhile, aviation regulator DGCA said it will probe the incident.

The Adani Group, which manages the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, said they had announced a standby as soon as they received the information about the incident at Calicut.

''Initially, the flight was scheduled to land at 11.03 AM but later it was rescheduled to 12.15 PM. At 11.36 we declared full emergency at the airport and all the emergency services were pressed into action,-'' the airport authority said.

All the ambulances and the three Crash Fire Tenders at the airport were ready and the emergency gates were opened. Ambulances from nearby hospitals and three buses carrying police reached the Airport as a precautionary measure.

''However, other flights operated normally,'' the airport authority said.

The flight, after orbiting for around two-and-a-half hours for burning excess fuel as precaution, landed at 12.15 PM.

The airport authority conducted a two-way inspection of the runway and later withdrew the emergency.