'Windshield crack': Air India Express flight makes emergency landing in Kerala | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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'Windshield crack': Air India Express flight makes emergency landing in Kerala

By | Written by Amit Chaturvedi, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Jul 31, 2021 12:45 PM IST

The Air India Express flight was going to Saudi Arabia from Thiruvananthapuram. It was without any passengers due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) restrictions in place. The plane was carrying some cargo along with eight-member crew.

An Air India Express flight from Kerala to Saudi Arabia made an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on Saturday morning. According to an airport official, as quoted by news agency PTI, the pilots noticed a crack in the windshield.

Air India Express is part of the government's Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stranded in other countries during Covid-19 pandemic.(HT File Photo)
Air India Express is part of the government's Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stranded in other countries during Covid-19 pandemic.(HT File Photo)

The plane took off from Thiruvananthapuram international airport at 7.52am and just about an hour later the pilots detected a crack in the windshield, the official said. They then turned back the flight and landed in Thiruvananthapuram at 8.50am.

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The plane was without any passenger due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) restrictions in place. It was carrying some cargo along with eight-member crew.

"All the crew members, including the pilots, are safe," said CV Ravindran, director of Thiruvananthapuram airport.

The flight was going to bring back Indian passengers from Damman in Saudi Arabia as part of the 'Vande Bharat Mission', according to Ravindran.

In June, Air India Express, the budget wing of national carrier Air India, operated the country's first international flight with the crew fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The flight, IX 191, operated from Delhi to Dubai.

Normal flight operations came to a halt in March last year after a nationwide lockdown was imposed. Flight movements resumed in the form of rescue operation as the Centre started Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate Indians stranded in other countries. Air India Express has been a part of the mission.

Air India Express had operated India's first-ever Vande Bharat Mission flight which brought back passengers from Abu Dhabi on May 7.

In Auguat last year, an Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people, including its six-member crew, overshot the tabletop runway during landing at the Kozhikode airport in Kerala amid heavy rains.

The narrow-body B-737 plane fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into pieces, killing 21 people, including both pilots.

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