Three international airline planes had to make emergency landings at different airports across the nation in the previous 48 hours, making today an airline-specific day of technical difficulties.
In the early hours of Sunday, an IndiGo Airlines plane that was flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Hyderabad Deccan in India experienced a technical issue and had to make an emergency landing at Karachi airport.
According to a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), these landings took place on Friday and Saturday in Calicut, Chennai, and Kolkata.
A hydraulic malfunction occurred on board the Air Arabia aircraft when it was flying flight G9-426 from Sharjah to Cochin. The plane touched down on the runway safely. The plane was hauled into the bay.
They further mentioned that the Airbus 320 was flying with over 180 passengers. They stated that Indian travelers were moved to the transit area and given breakfast, along with instructions to board a different flight back to India by 3 pm.
While overflying from Sharjah to Hyderabad, IndiGo’s A320 developed a problem in Engine No. 2, according to the Aviation Division in Islamabad. “The plane landed successfully in Karachi without any help.”
“We had two emergency landings of foreign operators on Saturday. Air Arabia at Cochin due to hydraulic issues and Ethiopian at Kolkata due to pressurization issue,” said an official.
IndiGo announced that it would send a second flight to Karachi to transport passengers back to Hyderabad. Later, the Aviation Division in Islamabad confirmed that the IndiGo’s backup aircraft had arrived at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.
According to the sources, flight 6E-1406 was the second flight from India to arrive in Karachi in less than two weeks. Given the tense political climate between the two South Asian neighbors, this was the least predicted destination for Indian passengers.