Mumbai-bound IndiGo aircraft returns to taxi bay at Goa airport due to engine glitch

Panaji/Mumbai: A Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight with 187 passengers on board returned to the taxi bay at the Goa Airport on Tuesday afternoon due to a glitch in one of its engines, a senior airport official said here.

All the passengers were deplaned safely by rescue teams of the Indian Navy, said airport director S V T Dhananjaya Rao. The airport is part of the navy base INS Hansa.

“IndiGo flight 6E 6097 Goa to Mumbai with 187 passengers including four infants on board had to abort the flight due to a technical snag in the right engine while proceeding to the runway at 1.27 pm,” he told PTI.

The airline, in a statement, said the pilot got a “momentary engine warning” during taxiing.

The aircraft was taken to the taxi bay by the Navy teams, Rao said.

“On a preliminary analysis, it seems the warning was spurious and there was no fire,” a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation official told PTI.

This was the second incident involving an IndiGo flight in the last three days. On Sunday one of its flights from Delhi to Kolkata suffered a “false cargo smoke warning” before landing.

“IndiGo Airbus (VT-IZR) operating 6E6097 from Goa to Mumbai returned back after taxiing out. While taxiing, the pilot got a momentary engine warning. The pilot carried out their procedures and returned the aircraft back for necessary inspection,” IndiGo said in a statement about Tuesday’s incident.

All passengers will be accommodated on another flight to Mumbai, it added.

According to sources, the aircraft had to be pushed back from Bay number nine, however the movement of other aircraft was not affected.

Sources also said that most of the passengers were accommodated on a flight to Mumbai and those who missed their connecting flights were provided hotel accommodation.