Akasa Air Mumbai-Bengaluru flight suffers bird hit, returns

The aircraft safely returned to the Mumbai airport moments after take off following complaints of a burning smell.

Akasa Air, which took its first flight two months ago, suffered a suspected bird hit on its Mumbai-Bengaluru flight on Friday. The aircraft was forced to return to the Mumbai airport moments after take-off following complaints of a burning smell. All passengers and crew on board were safe.

Akasa Air file image (Twitter/AkasaAir)

“Akasa Air flight QP 1103 flying from Mumbai to Bengaluru on October 14 diverted back to Mumbai due to odour in the cabin resulting from a bird hit. The aircraft landed safely in Mumbai and all passengers were deboarded,” Akasa Air spokesperson said.

“The aircraft was positioned for a detailed inspection and has now returned to service. Our customer service team assisted passengers and arrangements were made to accommodate their journeys. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused,” they added.

Late billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had invested in Akasa Air, which completed 60 days on October 7. “We are very happy, satisfied with... our performance,” the airlines founder and CEO Vinay Dube had told the press.

Akasa Air started its services with a flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. Since then, it has expanded its network to Chennai, Kochi and Bengaluru.

Akasa was aiming to operate over 250 flights per week on nine domestic routes by the second week of October, the airline announced on Friday as it made an entry to the highly-competitive Delhi market.

Currently, the carrier has just six planes and expects to have a total of 18 aircraft by the end of March next year. Akasa Air also plans to start international services in the second half of 2023 once it has a fleet of at least 20 planes.