Mid-air technical snag; GoAir flight bound for Pune returns back to BLR

Team Udayavani, Sep 3, 2018, 10:55 AM IST

• 169 passengers on board on Saturday’s disrupted flight have been accommodated on alternate flights: airline spokesperson

Bengaluru: One of budget airline GoAir’s Bengaluru-Pune flights suffered a technical glitch mid-air and following standard procedure, it returned safely to Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR) on Sunday.

169 passengers on board on Saturday’s disrupted flight have been accommodated on alternate flights informed the airline spokesperson.

Go Air statement said that the Flight G8-283 BLR-PNQ suffered a technical glitch. As a standard operating procedure the captain returned back to BLR. Post landing, all passengers were cared for and accommodated on alternate flights. GoAir sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers. GoAir is committed to the highest degree of safety of passengers and its own crew members and the crew operated within the established guidelines to provide for safe travel.

Reportedly, the pilots got a warning mid-flight about vibration in one of the engines followed by oil chip detection alarm going off, which led to its shutdown eventually.

As per the spokesperson, the flight in question was an Airbus A320 neo plane fitted with Pratt and Whitney (P&W) engines.

Ironically, the Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has grounded several A320 neo planes with P&W engines that were being operated by low-cost carriers IndiGo and GoAir.

It’s just a week after Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had sought a report from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the grounding of the A320 neo planes, when this incident has occurred.

Currently, there are 60 A320 neo planes with P&W engines operating in India. Out of these, 41 are with IndiGo and 19 with GoAir.