Close shave for passengers as plane with 70 on board overshoots Shirdi runway

A major disaster was averted when an Alliance Air plane overshot the runway by 50 metres while landing at Shirdi airport, before pilots managed to grind it to a halt. No one was injured.

As many as 70 passengers on board an Alliance Air flight had a narrow escape after the ATR aircraft carrying them from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport on Monday.

President Ram Nath Kovind had inaugurated the Shirdi airport on October 1 last year as part of the year-long centenary celebrations of the Shri Saibaba Samadhi, in honour of the 20th century saint Saibaba, revered by all communities. (PTI/File Photo)

All the passengers are safe and there is no damage to aircraft too, an Air India official said. Alliance Air is the regional arm of the national carrier Air India.

“At round 5.29 pm, the Alliance Air flight arriving from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport,” the official said.

There were 70 passengers on board the ATR aircraft,” he said adding, “airline will probe the causes of the incident.”

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will also investigate the incident of the aircraft overshooting the runway separately, he added.

In May 2010, 152 people were killed when the pilot of the Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway during landing at Mangaluru.

With a 2,500 meter-long runway, the temple-town airport is capable of handling single narrow-body aircraft, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s.