Flight 6E-6961, carrying 166 passengers and crew members, landed safely at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi. All passengers were safely evacuated after the landing, the airline said
All passengers were safely evacuated after the landing, the airline said. Representational Pic/File/iStock
An IndiGo flight from Kolkata to Srinagar made an emergency landing at Varanasi airport on Wednesday following a technical issue detected mid-air, the airline said, reported the IANS.
Flight 6E-6961, carrying 166 passengers and crew members, landed safely at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi. All passengers were safely evacuated after the landing, the airline said.
"On October 22, 2025, IndiGo flight 6E 6961, operating from Kolkata to Srinagar, made a precautionary landing at Varanasi Airport due to a suspected technical issue. As a safety measure, the aircraft has been grounded for necessary checks, and an alternate aircraft has been arranged to continue the journey," an Indigo spokesperson said, according to the IANS.
"At IndiGo, the safety of our passengers, crew, and aircraft is our top priority. We appreciate our customers' patience and cooperation as our teams work to minimise any inconvenience," the spokesperson further said.
Meanwhile, in an another incident, an Air India flight scheduled from Mumbai to Newark in the United States had to return after take-off, as the crew identified a suspected technical snag, according to a statement issued by the airline on Wednesday, the IANS reported.
“The crew of flight AI191 operating from Mumbai to Newark on 22 October, made a precautionary air-return to Mumbai due to a suspected technical issue. The flight landed safely back in Mumbai, and the aircraft is undergoing necessary inspections," according to an Air India statement.
The total number of passengers on board, along with the time at which the airline departed and returned, was not available in the preliminary statement. As per the usual schedule, the AI191 flight departs at 01:10 hours (IST) from Mumbai and reaches Newark at 07:55 hours (EDT), according to the IANS.
Due to the flight's cancellation, the return flight from Newark to Mumbai was also cancelled, as per the IANS.
The incident comes days after a Delhi-bound Air India plane running into a technical snag at the Milan airport last Friday, stranding over 250 passengers at the foreign airport just ahead of Diwali.
The airline's Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VT-ANN) had encountered a technical issue upon landing in Milan, preventing the aircraft from operating the return journey to Delhi.
Air India then scheduled an additional flight from Milan to Delhi on Oct 19 to bring back home 256 passengers who were stranded in Milan since, October 17.
The airline claimed it had extended all immediate assistance to affected passengers, including hotel accommodation and meals. Full refunds or complimentary rescheduling were also offered as per passenger preference, the news agency reported.
A similar incident occurred on August 16 this year, when an Air India flight on the same route was cancelled due to a technical issue that was notices during pushback.
According to Air India, a maintenance task was identified just as the aircraft was preparing for departure. The subsequent delay caused the operating crew to exceed mandatory flight duty time limitation norms, making it unsafe and impermissible for them to continue, the IANS reported.
(with IANS inputs)
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