NEW DELHI: An Air India flight narrowly escaped disaster after the plane carrying 170 passengers caught fire after landing at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday.
The Air India Flight A315, which arrived from Hong Kong, caught fire shortly after landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU) caught fire when its passengers were getting off the aircraft and was automatically shut down, a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement.
APU is an electrical power generator typically located at the rear of an aircraft. Its primary function is to start the main engines and power essential onboard systems while the airplane is parked at the airport.
According to the airline spokesperson, all 170 passengers, including crew members, were safely evacuated.
Passengers “disembarked normally” and are safe, but the aircraft, which was flying from Hong Kong, suffered some damage, the airline said. It did not elaborate on the damages caused to the plane.
The impacted flight is an Airbus (AIR.PA) A321, data from flightradar24 showed.
Air India said it has notified the regulator of the incident. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was not immediately available for comment, Reuters reported.
This was the third incident involving Air India planes in three days related to safety mishaps.
The first incident occurred on July 21 when a Kochi-Mumbai flight skidded off the runway during landing in rainy weather. The incident caused three tyres to burst, and engine damage was also suspected.
In the second incident, a plane aborted takeoff while taxiing at the New Delhi airport due to technical issues.
Incidents like these, while not rare, are currently drawing significant public attention in the aftermath of the tragic crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 12, in which 260 persons died.
In June, an Air India flight headed to Delhi had to return to Hong Kong because of a technical issue. The flight, AI315, was a Boeing 788.
On the same day, an Air India Express flight bound for Ranchi returned to Delhi airport owing to a suspected technical issue.
On June 13, an Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi returned to Phuket and made a precautionary landing after receiving a bomb threat.
