Kolkatta:
A Boeing 767 aircraft from Denmark to Thailand, with 292 passengers on board, made an emergency landing at the N S C Bose International airport here yesterday, and was grounded at the airport for over 24 hours, as it ran out of fuel and the plane's toilet also had some problem.
City airport sources said the aircraft, run by Thomson Fly group, took off from Billund and was on way to the tourist spot of Phuket, when the air crew noticed the problem with washroom taps and door as it was flying over Afghanistan yesterday morning.
The plane then headed towards Delhi but was not given permission to land due to thick blanket of fog, and with fast depleting fuel stock it finally contacted the ATC, Kolkata which then gave the nod for emergency landing at N S C Bose International airport at around 6 am yesterday, with full emergency measures in place, the sources said.
After refuelling and checking procedure of the plane by aviation officials, the plane could not take off as the FDTL (flight duty time limit) of its pilot had crossed the stipulated hours. The aircraft had to be grounded for over 24 hours for another international pilot to take over, the sources said.
Procedural delays with another round of check-up resulted in the second pilot taking over at 6 am today. This further delayed the departure to 12:15 pm finally.
The landing, ground handling and fuel charges were paid by the airlines and the passengers were accommodated at an airport hotel during this period, the sources added.
Meanwhile, flight operations were delayed at the airport from 5 am to 8 am today due to poor visibility but no incoming or outbound domestic or international flights were cancelled, airport sources said.