Double whammy | US-bound Air India jet forced to return after airspace closure, suffers engine damage after cargo container gets sucked in

New Delhi: An Air India plane, which was headed to New York but returned to Delhi following closure of Iranian airspace, suffered damages on Thursday morning when its right engine sucked in a cargo container at the airport here amid dense fog, officials said.

While the Airbus (A350) plane landed safely, officials said the AI-101 (Delhi-New York, JFK) ingested a cargo container causing substantial damage to its right engine during taxiing to apron. The incident took place at 5:25 AM.

Officials said the visibility at the time of incident was marginal and a preliminary investigation showed that a Bird Worldwide Flight Services (BWFS) tug was transporting a few containers to baggage makeup area of Terminal 3 crossed this intersection while on the vehicular lane.

"During crossing, one of the containers toppled onto the taxi way intersection. This container got ingested in No.2 engine of Air India A350 aircraft. After clearing metal pieces, the aircraft was parked on stand 244. Further investigation is being carried out by DGCA," the officials said.

Air India said AI-101 was forced to return to Delhi shortly after takeoff due to the unexpected closure of Iranian airspace, which impacted its planned route. Upon landing in Delhi, it said the aircraft encountered a foreign object while taxiing in dense fog, resulting in damage to the right engine.

"The aircraft was safely positioned to the designated parking stand, ensuring the safety of all passengers and crew on board," an Air India statement said.

Separately, Air India as well as IndiGo had to cancel some of its other overseas flights due to the closure of Iranian airspace.

Officials said services of Air India to the US and Europe and that of IndiGo to CIS countries, Europe and Turkey were impacted. Air India has cancelled at least three flights -- Delhi-New York, Delhi-Newark and Mumbai-New York -- to the US while warning passengers that some services could face delay due to Tehran's actions.

Flights to Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Baku (Azerbaijan), and Tbilisi (Georgia) have been impacted and some of the services have been cancelled, PTI reported.

Air India said on 'X' that flights overflying the region are now using an alternative routing, which may lead to delays. "Some Air India flights where currently rerouting is not possible are being cancelled," it said.

IndiGo said that due to the sudden airspace closure by Iran, some of its international flights are impacted. SpiceJet said due to airspace closure in Iran, some of its flights may be affected.