An Air India aircraft, with 123 passengers on board, made a safe landing at the international airport here with ‘full emergency support' on Tuesday afternoon after the pilot detected a snag in the hydraulic system.
The commander of the Chennai-Bangalore-Thiruvananthapuram flight alerted the Air Traffic Control as the A-310 aircraft was approaching Thiruvananthapuram around 12.15 noon. He sought emergency support, which was immediately made available, airport sources said.
Security agencies and the city police were also alerted. Airline sources said the aircraft landed safely at 12.24 noon. It moved to the parking bay on its own and hence the snag could not be a major one, officials said. The passengers were evacuated. The aircraft has been grounded and engineers are working to rectify the snag.
In November last, flight operations from the international airport came to a standstill after an AI aircraft with 80 passengers and two infants got stuck in the middle of the runway while making an emergency landing.
Flight 915, bound for Dammam in Saudi Arabia, returned after the commander got a warning of snag in the aircraft doors. The A-330 aircraft made a ‘hard landing' and in the process got struck, forcing the airport authorities to close the airport.
