A Qatar Airways flight travelling from Doha to Jakarta on Wednesday was diverted to Mumbai due to a technical issue. The flight, QR954, left Qatar’s capital Doha at 11.27 am (IST) for the Indonesian capital city but developed a snag and had to be diverted to Mumbai.
The aircraft, an Airbus A359, landed at the Mumbai airport at 3.36 pm.
Another aircraft is being prepared for dispatch from Doha to collect passengers from the Mumbai airport, said Qatar Airways.
Earlier this month, an Air India A320 aircraft VT-EXV operating AI-951 (Hyderabad-Dubai) carrying 143 people was diverted to Mumbai due to the failure of the yellow hydraulic system. An IndiGo flight from Kannur to Doha was also diverted to the airport this month due to a technical fault. Flight 6E-1715 was diverted to Mumbai as a precaution, according to the airline.
Wednesday’s diversion comes amid several flight disruptions in India over the past few days due to the severe winter and dense fog. In Delhi alone, 100 flights have been disrupted over three days while several had to be diverted to nearby airports.
The disruptions have added to the year-end holiday congestion woes of the Delhi airport authorities. Over the past few weeks, the Delhi airport has been witnessing massive queues as the holiday season rush has got overwhelming. Now, the fog and visibility issues have compounded problems for travellers in north India.
Flight services were also affected at West Bengal's Bagdogra airport for nearly six hours on Tuesday as dense fog reduced visibility. The disruption affected hundreds of flyers.