Air India launched an investigation after two of its planes were involved in safety incidents within a span of 24 hours, raising serious questions about the airline’s aviation safety standards.
Flight AI2802 of India’s flagship airline, carrying 171 passengers, made an emergency landing at Delhi airport after one of its engines caught fire. The cabin crew received the fire alert, which was later confirmed to be authentic, prompting the pilots to make an emergency landing.
The Airbus A320 was arriving from Bengaluru on Thursday night. Passengers on board were safely evacuated and no injuries or deaths have been reported.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
The airline said, “Air India is immediately launching a full investigation into the cause of the incident in coordination with the relevant regulatory authorities.”
Earlier, a flight of the same airline was suspended after an alleged tail strike at the Bengaluru airport.
The Airbus A321, coming from Delhi, suffered a tail strike while landing; However, the pilots managed to land the plane safely and all passengers and crew disembarked normally.
For the uninitiated, a tailstrike occurs when the bottom rear of an airplane makes contact with the runway during takeoff or landing.
These incidents come barely a year after the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash that killed 241 of 242 passengers last June.
