Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari was forced to miss a Union Cabinet meeting on Tuesday after he and 158 other passengers were left stranded for a few hours after a Delhi-bound IndiGo aircraft returned to the bay at Nagpur airport following a technical glitch.
With a view to dispelling any rumours about Mr. Gadkari’s health in light of his absence at the Cabinet meeting, the minister’s office in Delhi informed the media that the plane he was travelling by had had to return to the bay following a “technical snag”.
The IndiGo aircraft, an Airbus 320 Neo, had only joined the airline’s fleet in November 2018. There were no defects reported when the aircraft arrived in Nagpur from Delhi, an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.
“It was further cleared to operate as flight 6E-636 to Delhi,” the airline’s spokesperson said. “During engine start the pilot observed a momentary caution message and the aircraft returned to bay for requisite checks. The caution messages reappeared during ground checks and the aircraft was withdrawn from service and put under maintenance at Nagpur,” IndiGo added.
The IndiGo spokesperson clarified that it was not a case of an aborted takeoff and that a caution had appeared during engine start-up and appropriate operating procedures were followed. Nagpur airport’s senior director, Vijay Mulekar informed that the flight did not takeoff due to a ‘technical fault’.
“Flight 6E-636, was later operated using another aircraft,” an airport official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This took off from Nagpur for Delhi at 1.53 p.m., carrying many of the passengers. There were a few passengers who backed out as the flight was delayed by 6 hours,” the official added.
According to officials at Mr. Gadkari’s office in Nagpur, the minister was still in the city and was likely to travel to Delhi on Wednesday.
Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which owns and operates IndiGo, declined 1.59% to close at ₹1,507.30 on the BSE.
