Vistara flight makes emergency landing at Bhubaneswar airport, passengers safe

A New Delhi-bound Vistara flight made an emergency landing at the Bhubaneswar airport on Wednesday after the aircraft was caught in a hailstorm and suffered some damage, an airport official said.

The flight had taken off from the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar and returned barely 10 minutes later after it was caught in the hailstorm.

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The 169 passengers and crew on board were reported to be safe.

According to preliminary information, the aircraft’s windshield developed a crack due to the hailstorm that lashed several parts of Odisha on Wednesday afternoon.

“A windshield has been damaged, while no harm was caused to the passengers,” BPIA Director Prasanna Pradhan said.

In a statement, Tata Group-owned Vistara said: “We confirm that Vistara flight UK788 encountered adverse weather soon after take-off, resulting in a crack in its windshield and minor damage to the radome.”

Radome is the ‘nose’ of an aircraft where the airborne weather radar is hidden.

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“The aircraft is undergoing necessary checks before resuming operations. In the meanwhile, an alternate aircraft has been arranged to complete the journey, which will depart shortly,” the airline said.

The airline is making efforts to minimize inconvenience to passengers by taking measures such as offering refreshments and meals, it added.

Domestic air traffic

Domestic airlines carried 133.68 lakh passengers in March, an increase of nearly 3.7 per cent on an annual basis, according to official data released on April 15.

In March 2023, domestic air traffic stood at 128.93 lakh and the count stood at 126.48 lakh in February this year.

In terms of On Time Performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the list at 84.5 per cent, followed by AIX Connect (83 per cent), IndiGo (81.3 per cent), Vistara (76.6 per cent), Air India (71.9 per cent) and SpiceJet (63.6 per cent).

Alliance Air’s OTP was the lowest at 48.6 per cent, according to the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).