CHENNAI – An Air India flight, AI 2455, was supposed to go from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on Sunday, August 10, but it had to land in Chennai instead because of bad weather and a possible mechanical problem. Venugopal, a Congress politician, and other MPs were on the flight. Venugopal wrote on social media that there was a “heart-stopping moment” during the first landing attempt.
KC Venugopal posted on the social media site X that the airplane had “unprecedented turbulence” right after it took off. A little over an hour later, the captain said there was a “flight signal fault” and changed the plane’s course to Chennai. The jet tried to land after circling the airport for almost two hours while waiting for permission. Venugopal said that on the first try, another plane was “reportedly on the same runway,” which made the pilot pull up and do a “go-around.” The plane landed safely on the second try.
“Skill and luck saved us.” “Passenger safety can’t depend on luck,” Venugopal wrote, urging the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to quickly look into the event and “fix accountability.”
Air India responded to Venugopal’s assertions by saying on X that the diversion was “precautionary” because of a technical problem and bad weather. The airline particularly refuted Venugopal’s claim that there was another plane on the runway.
Air India said, “Chennai ATC (Air Traffic Control) told the plane to go around during the first attempted landing at Chennai airport, not because there was another plane on the runway.” The airline also said that its pilots are “well-trained to handle such situations” and that they did everything by the book. Air India also apologized for the trouble it caused for passengers, but they said again that “safety is always our top priority.”
An Air India spokeswoman acknowledged that the flight was diverted and said that the plane will need to be checked out. The airline is making other plans for the passengers who are affected to get to their destinations.