Hyderabad: A SpiceJet flight bound to fly for Nashik returned to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad just 20 minutes after taking off on Tuesday morning.
72 passengers were onboard while the flight took off at 6:10 am and returned to the airport at around 6:30 am.
Passengers were forced to wait for three hours at RGIA, following which Spicejet announced that the flight was cancelled, amid demands for another flight.
The SpiceJet is already under the enhanced surveillance of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for it has been facing operational and financial headwinds in recent times.
The DGCA had also directed the airline to operate just 50 percent of its total flights after passengers of the flight suffered anxious moments in an October incident where smoke began emanating from the cabin of a SpiceJet flight on its way to Hyderabad from Goa.
All 86 passengers were anyhow evacuated safely through the emergency exit, while one passenger received minor scratches on the feet while exiting the plane.
SpiceJet flight from Goa makes emergency landing at RGIA, Hyderabad
A SpiceJet flight from Goa to Hyderabad made an emergency landing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in October.
The pilot of flight SG 3735 noticed smoke and alerted the Air Traffic Controller (ATC), which in turn alerted the ground staff. The aircraft made a safe landing.
“There were 86 passengers on the flight. All are safe,” a source at the airport.
The flight had taken off from Goa on October 12 at 9.55 p.m. and just before the scheduled landing at Hyderabad at 11.30 p.m., the pilot noticed the smoke in the cockpit.
Days after the incident, aviation regulator DGCA directed the airline to analyse engine oil samples from its Q400 fleet to check for the presence of metal and carbon seal particles.
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