Hit By Bird, SpiceJet Plane From Belgavi Lands Safely At Delhi Airport

According to an airline official at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft carried about 187 people.

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: SpiceJet flight from Belgavi to Delhi on Monday morning was hit by a bird and successfully landed at the national capital's airport, news agency PTI reported.

According to an airline official at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft carried about 187 people.

According to an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official, the jet was hit by a bird at Belgaum airport. Specific information was not readily accessible.

"On May 9, SpiceJet B737 aircraft operating SG-8472 from Belgavi (Karnataka) to Delhi suffered a bird hit. The aircraft landed safely at Delhi," a SpiceJet spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the flight tracking website flightradar24.com, the jet was a Boeing MAX.

SpiceJet's trip from the national capital to Jharsuguda (Odisha), which was to be operated using the same aircraft, was delayed by a few hours due to technical issues.

The flight to Jharsuguda, which was supposed to leave at 11:55 a.m., took off around 2 p.m. and was operated by another plane.

However, an airline worker at the IGIA told passengers waiting for a flight to Jharsuguda that the aircraft had been delayed because the jet had been damaged by a bird during landing.

"The flight was delayed due to technical reasons... The plane (coming from Belgavi) had a bird hit while landing. The engine blade is damaged. The technical team is working on it," SpiceJet Duty Manager at the Delhi airport Akshay Anand told a PTI.

Due to the aircraft delay, several passengers travelling to Jharsuguda for business faced inconvenience.

Hitachi Kayama Masahiro, a Japanese engineer who is visiting the Steel Authority of India's factory in Rourkela, said: "The flight delay has upset my further travel plans. I have to travel by road for 3 hours from Jharsuguda".

Dalmia Group Tax Manager Rohit Krishna Varshney said, "I am a frequent traveller on this route. Delay in SpiceJet flight on this route is a routine affair. Today it may be due to technical reasons".

Varsha Prasad, another passenger, stated that she has to travel 2.30 hours from Jharsuguda to the Jindal Power Plant in Tamnar, Chhattisgarh.

"The delay will upset my schedule. Since there are no other flights on this route, we have no option but to wait for this flight," she had said at the Delhi airport.

SpiceJet is the sole airline that flies between Delhi and Jharsuguda. One flight, which was newly launched, operates on a daily basis.

(With PTI Inputs)