A stationary Air India Express aircraft had the tip of one of its wings chipped after being grazed by a wing of an IndiGo plane that was approaching the runway for take-off at the Calcutta airport on Wednesday morning.
A portion of the wingtip of the Air India Express aircraft fell on the tarmac after the grazing at 11.10am. The IndiGo plane’s wing suffered a dent.
Sources at the Calcutta airport and the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) said all four pilots of the two planes had been grounded and a probe had started.
None of the over 300 passengers who were in the two planes were injured, said an airport official.
According to sources, the probe would look into the possible causes of the incident; whether the pilots were at fault by failing to maintain the designated position on the two taxiways; whether there is a flaw in the design of the taxiways, because of which the minimum required distance between the two parallel aircraft could not be maintained.
The probe will also look into whether there was an error in communication between the pilots and the air traffic control while giving clearance for movement on the parallel taxiways.
The Calcutta-Darbhanga IndiGo flight had 135 passengers, including four children, and the Air India Express flight, which was bound for Chennai, had 169 passengers, said officials of the airlines.
Officials at the Calcutta airport said the Air India Express aircraft, a Boeing 737Next Generation plane, was standing on taxiway A, near the northern end of the runway, waiting for clearance to take off.
The IndiGo aircraft, an Airbus A-320, was moving for take-off through taxiway N4, which is parallel to taxiway A, towards the northern end of the runway. The newly built Taxiway N4, which officials said became functional in December, takes the aircraft more towards the edge of the runway for take-off. “The grazing happened when the IndiGo plane was moving past the Air India Express aircraft,” said an official at the airport.
He said that because of the impact, the tip of the left wing of the Air India Express aircraft fell on the tarmac. The right wingtip of the IndiGo plane received a dent.
“The Air India Express aircraft was ahead of the IndiGo aircraft and they were in separate taxiways. The Air India Express aircraft had stopped and was on hold for take-off,” said an airport official.
Airport sources said the Air India Express aircraft could have been standing away from the designated position. Aircraft are kept on holding positions on taxiways before it can enter the runway for take-off.
“This is being probed,” said an airport official.
While taxiing, an aircraft’s speed is usually between 15 nautical miles (27.78km) and 20 nautical miles (37.04km) per hour, said an airport official.
“A minor graze between a taxiing IndiGo aircraft and that of another carrier was reported from Calcutta airport. The aircraft returned to bay for inspection and necessary action as per protocol. Consequently, IndiGo flight 6E 6152 between Calcutta and Darbhanga has been delayed,” reads an IndiGo statement..
“Refreshments have been provided to all passengers and an alternate aircraft has been arranged to minimise delay and inconvenience to the passengers. IndiGo prioritises passenger safety above all else. An incident report will be submitted to DGCA in due course, as per protocol,” reads the statement issued by IndiGo.
Another aircraft flew the passengers to Darbhanga at 3.02pm, said an IndiGo spokesperson.
An Air India Express spokesperson said: “The wingtip of a taxiing aircraft of another airline grazed one of our aircraft, which was stationary and awaiting clearance to enter the runway at Calcutta for a scheduled operation to Chennai. The aircraft has since returned to the bay and further investigation is underway, for which we are coordinating with the regulator and the airport authorities. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to guests due to external circumstances.”
The Air India Express spokesperson denied that the two pilots of the flight had been grounded by the DGCA. “We don’t have such information,” said the spokesperson.
He said some of the passengers were accommodated on another flight to Chennai, which took off around 6pm. For some others, the tickets were rescheduled. “We were not ready for the emergency situation,” the airline said.
