An IndiGo flight had to make a precautionary landing in Pakistan’s Karachi city today after the pilot noticed a technical defect in the aircraft. The flight was traveling from Sharjah to Hyderabad. All passengers were safely deboarded. The company also said that the passenger would be taken to Hyderabad through an additional flight that was sent from India.
The statement from the company said, “IndiGo flight 6E-1406, operating from Sharjah to Hyderabad was diverted to Karachi. The pilot observed a technical defect. Necessary procedures were followed and as a precaution, the aircraft was diverted to Karachi. An additional flight is being sent to Karachi to fly the passengers to Hyderabad.”
IndiGo is the country’s largest carrier operating around 1,600 flights daily. However, in the past few months, it is facing severe problems and has had to make several emergency landings due to technical issues. The company is also facing strikes and protests from the staff and crew, who are outraged with continued low salaries. On July 2, the departure of the company’s 900 flights was delayed. According to sources, this delay was caused because of not having enough crew members.
India’s airline industry, in general, is currently going through a tough phase, with frequent incidents of unplanned landings due to technical errors and also employees who have repeatedly expressed anger and dissatisfaction over low salaries.
SpiceJet too has had many emergency landings in the past couple of months. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has identified significant flaws in SpiceJet operations. The notice includes operating flights with degraded safety margins, poor internal safety oversight, and vendor late payments resulting in a shortage of spare parts for the airline’s fleet.
In fact, earlier this month, SpiceJet aircraft from Delhi to Dubai had to make an unplanned landing in Karachi itself. According to sources, Indian airlines have to be very cautious when they need to land in Pakistan. They said that the authorities in Karachi took a long time to give clearance for the landing and it was a tense situation. The Ambassador in Pakistan was also made aware of the situation. Fortunately, everything went smoothly and all passengers were safe.
