Air India flight diverted to Chennai on weather radar issue: DGCA; airline says crew followed protocol

New Delhi: Aviation watchdog DGCA on Monday said Air India's flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi was diverted to Chennai on Sunday evening due to suspected malfunctioning of the weather radar of the aircraft, which landed safely, amid some Parliamentarians who were onboard the plane flagging safety concerns.

On Sunday, Air India said the flight AI2455 was diverted to Chennai following a suspected technical issue, while senior Congress leader K C Venugopal claimed the flight came "frighteningly close to tragedy".

The flight diversion incident has also sparked a political uproar, with BJP IT Department Head Amit Malviya on Monday saying that if Venugopal claims an Air India flight had to abort landing in Chennai because another aircraft was on the runway and the airline immediately contradicts him, then one of them is misrepresenting facts.

Against this backdrop, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday provided a detailed statement on the incident saying the A320 aircraft VT-TNL during the flight encountered moderate turbulent conditions.

"Crew observed that the weather information depicted on the weather RADAR was not accurate, suspecting weather RADAR malfunction diverted to Chennai," the regulator said and added that during engineering inspection no deficiency was observed but as a precautionary measure, "WX radar transreceiver was replaced with a serviceable one".

To avoid overweight landing and burn extra fuel, the aircraft with clearance from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) orbited 25 nautical miles northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes from 21:25 to 22:08 hours, the statement said.

"After the aircraft was cleared for approach Runway 25 at Chennai, at 22:19 aircraft was instructed to carry out a missed approach by ATC as departing Gulf Air flight GFA053 (Chennai-Bahrain) reported debris on left side of runway. Apron control carried out inspection of the runway and nothing was observed.

"Aircraft was given landing clearance and aircraft landed safely at 22:39 IST," the watchdog said.

The flight AI2455, which was scheduled to depart at 19:15 hours on Sunday, was delayed by 49 minutes due to the late arrival of the aircraft from Delhi, and took off from Thiruvananthapuram at 20:04 hours.

On Monday, Air India said the crew of the Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi flight followed the protocols and the first landing attempt had to be aborted due to suspected foreign debris presence on the runway.

The decision to divert the flight to Chennai was a precautionary measure and was taken in the best interest of the safety of passengers and crew due to a suspected technical issue. The flight was not diverted to Bengaluru as the weather in Chennai was clear, the airline said.

Deeply regretting the inconvenience, the airline said all the affected passengers were accommodated on alternate flights to Delhi and that the aircraft has also resumed commercial operations.

K C Venugopal, also the Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee and a former Minister of State for Civil Aviation, on Sunday night claimed the flight came "frighteningly close to tragedy".

"For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, until a heart-stopping moment during our first attempt -- another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway. In that split second, the Captain's quick decision to pull up saved every life on board. The flight landed safely on the second attempt," he said in a post on X.

Further, Venugopal said, "we were saved by skill and luck" and that passenger safety cannot depend on luck. "I urge @DGCAIndia and @MoCA_GoI to investigate this incident urgently, fix accountability, and ensure such lapses never happen again," he had said.

Tagging the reply by Air India to Venugopal's post wherein the airline said the diversion was precautionary, BJP IT Department Head Amit Malviya on Monday said this is extremely serious.

"If senior Congress leader KC Venugopal claims an Air India flight had to abort landing in Chennai because another aircraft was on the runway and the airline immediately contradicts him, then one of them is misrepresenting facts.

"Aviation safety is paramount, and social media posts from supposedly responsible people cannot go unscrutinised. If the allegation is true, Chennai ATC and Air India have much to answer for. If not, Mr Venugopal should face consequences, including being put on a no-fly list for spreading falsehoods," Malviya said in his post.