Rajkot-bound Air India flight returns due to Tech snag

An Air India flight carrying 45 passengers to Rajkot from Mumbai returned to airport about 30 minutes after take-off on Friday evening.

An Air India flight carrying 45 passengers to Rajkot from Mumbai returned to airport about 30 minutes after take-off on Friday evening.

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The flight took off around 6 pm but soon the pilot detected a technical snag mid-air. A Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson said that the pilot reported local standby, which is a common precautionary measure. The cause of the snag is not ascertained.

“Air India flight IC-145 Mumbai-Rajkot with 55 persons, including crew onboard, took off at 5.56 pm for Rajkot but returned shortly thereafter being airborne for just over 45 minutes due to a technical snag,” a Mumbai Airport spokesperson said here.

The pilot of the Airbus 319 on landing declared a local stand-by, the spokesperson said. Local stand-by is declared when activation of only the airport-based agencies involved in the local airport emergency plan is warranted such as airport fire service, aerodrome owner and trained first-aid personnel based at the airport.