An Air India flight bound for Indore returned to Delhi after the pilots declared a Mayday due to a fire indication in the right engine.
A ‘full emergency’ was also declared by the Air Traffic Control at the Delhi airport. Meanwhile, fire and rescue teams were put on standby as a precaution.
As the pilots managed to land safely, Air India confirmed that all passengers and crew members disembarked safely.
Later, the airline arranged an alternate aircraft to Indore, while the affected aircraft was grounded for a detailed engineering inspection to determine the cause of the fire indication.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was informed of the incident.
The Air India plane had approached the Delhi airport for an emergency landing after being airborne for over 30 minutes.
One engine of the A320neo aircraft was shut down, and the plane landed safely at the Delhi airport, Air India said in a statement.
The flight made an emergency landing at around 6:15 am, and there were more than 90 people on board, news agency PTI quoted a source as saying.
“Flight AI2913, operating from Delhi to Indore on August 31, air-returned to Delhi shortly after take off, as the cockpit crew received a fire indication for the right engine," the Tata Group-owned airline said without divulging further details.
Following standard procedure, the cockpit crew elected to shut down the engine and returned to Delhi, where the flight landed safely, it said.
On Monday, an Air India Express flight IX2610 operating from Chennai to Andaman was forced to return to its origin after being unable to land at its destination due to severe weather conditions, news agency ANI quoted sources as saying.
The aircraft circled the destination airport, but deteriorating weather made landing unsafe. The flight subsequently returned to Chennai, where it landed safely with all passengers on board.