The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Flights delayed as aircraft gets stuck on runway

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 22, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Flights delayed as aircraft gets stuck on runway

Staff Reporter

Alliance Air aircraft develops technical snag after landing

A long wait: Cab drivers waiting for passengers outside the Bangalore airport on Thursday following the delay in flight arrivals.

BANGALORE: Eight flights were delayed and another was diverted after an Alliance Air aircraft carrying 118 passengers, including crew members, got stuck on the runway after landing at the airport here on Thursday.

Last week, the airport runway was closed for an hour when a Sri Lankan cargo plane overshot the runway that led to flight delays.

According to sources in the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Boeing 737 flight of Alliance Air, a subsidiary of the State-owned Indian, developed a technical snag in the wheel hydraulics after landing. Certain procedures had to be followed while towing the aircraft to the isolated bay. The runway had to be closed for over half an hour. “The flight had been incapacitated to move on its own following the breakdown in hydraulics,” the sources said.

The incident occurred soon after the flight IC-7542 landed in Bangalore around 7.55 p.m., and the authorities cleared the runway around 8.35 p.m.

The sources said that the officials would inspect the aircraft for its air worthiness before it was allowed to take off again.

Following the incident, a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Bangalore was diverted to Chennai, while Alliance Air cancelled its return flight from Bangalore to Chennai. Eight flights were delayed after the incident, and the delay ranged between 20 minutes and one-and-a-half-hour. Deccan Aviation reported delay in three of its flights heading to Chennai, Hyderabad, and Chennai, while Sahara’s Delhi-bound flight and Jet Airways Mumbai-bound flights were delayed.

A press release from Indian said that the a minor technical problem halted the Chennai-Bangalore IC 7542 flight on the runway and had to be towed away from the runway.

Safe

The press release said that all 118 passengers on board were safe. It said that the outgoing flight to Chennai had been cancelled and alternative arrangements made to the passengers booked on that flight.

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