An Airbus 330-200 aircraft of Emirates bound for Dubai made an emergency landing at the international airport here, 45 minutes after take off, on Tuesday morning following a technical snag.
The EK 523 flight, with 278 passengers on board, took off from the airport at 5.08 a.m. It returned and made a safe landing at 5.53 a.m. under full emergency measures, a top airport official said.
The authorities had informed all the agencies following a message from the pilot to the Air Traffic Control that he was returning following an alert about a ‘snag in the undercarriage' of the aircraft in the cockpit panel.
Top officials of the airport rushed to the airport.
Shashi Tharoor, MP, and his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, were among the passengers on the flight, which was to depart at 4.35 a.m. The passengers, including Mr. Tharoor and his wife, were accommodated in city hotels by the airline.
The airline flew in another aircraft from Dubai to fly the stranded passengers. The flight EK 7007 left for Dubai with 272 passengers, including Mr. Tharoor, at 4.10 p.m. The flight was operated using a Boeing 777 aircraft, airport sources said.
The grounded aircraft of Emirates has been taxied away to a safe place and efforts are on to rectify the snag. The Airports Authority of India has sought a report from the airline.
Airport sources said the grounded aircraft was likely to leave here only on Wednesday after repairs.
