Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 16:

A Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight was grounded at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Odisha capital today morning as the aircraft suffered bird-hit shortly before landing at the airport.

indigo

However, the flight landed safely and all the passengers on board were safe, sources said.

The Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Mumbai IndiGo flight 6E-293 was grounded at the airport after a bird hit the left wing of the aircraft, sources said adding that the flight which was scheduled to fly to Mumbai after landing at BPIA was cancelled.

The passengers were shifted to a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight, which left for Mumbai. The passengers reportedly expressed displeasure over the incident.

"On arrival at Bhubaneswar today it was observed that 6E-293 from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar had suffered a bird strike. IndiGo engineering staff took a precautionary measure and withdrew the aircraft from operations for maintenance work. Consequently, 6E-256 flight Bhubaneswar to Delhi has been cancelled. All 117 passengers booked on this flight have been informed. The staff has ensured to accommodate all passengers on other IndiGo flights via Hyderabad and Kolkata," IndiGo said in a statement.

"At IndiGo the safety and security of customers, crew and the aircraft is the top priority – and it cannot be compromised at any time. We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers," the statement added.

Worth mentioning, this is not the first case of bird hit at the Biju Patnaik International Airport. As many as 97 such cases have been reported since 2009. While 6 bird hit incidents came to fore in 2009, the figure rose to 16 and 22 in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Similarly, 9 bird hit cases were reported in 2012, 10 in 2013, 12 in 2014, 15 in 2015 and 7 cases so far this year.