New Delhi: An Air India plane bound to Newark (USA) on Thursday returned to land back in Delhi around 30 minutes after takeoff as a dead bat was found inside the jetliner’s business class cabin.
The pilot contacted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) after taking note of the problem and safely landed back at the Delhi Airport at around 3.55 a.m.
Full disinfection was conducted after landing of the flight, which was declared Aircraft on Grounded, and all the passengers were shifted to another plane.
The airport wildlife staff was later asked to catch the bat, which turned out to be dead.
Air India has ordered an investigation against the engineering team with regard to the incident.
“The probable reason may be loading vehicles like those for catering because all the time rats/ bats came from their vehicles only,” ANI quoted an Air India official as saying.
A senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official while commenting on the incident said “Air India B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI-105 (Delhi-Newark) was involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by the crew after departure”.
“Fuel was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After landing fumigation was carried out and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from seat 8DEF area,” he added.