The departure of a Mumbai-bound Air India flight from the airport here on Friday was delayed by over an hour after the crew reported fumes at the rear side.
Officials said the flight AI 652, operating in the Kochi- Mumbai sector returned to the bay after being pushed back for a take-off at 8 a.m on noticing the smoke. The pilot passed on the information to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities who, in turn, alerted the airport operator about a return of the aircraft.
The flight had 115 passengers apart from the six crew members onboard. The aircraft was immediately restored for an engineering check-up and it later took off from here by 9.25 a.m. The airline is yet to announce the source of the scare.
