IndiGo Flight Declared 'Mayday' Due To Low Fuel, Landed Safely: Sources

Budget carrier IndiGo's Guwahati-Chennai flight, with 168 passengers, made an emergency landing in Bengaluru after pilots declared 'mayday' due to "insufficient fuel", said sources. The incident comes just a week after Air India Dreamliner flight to London crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad.

IndiGo spokesperson said the airline made a "mayday" call before it landed in Bengaluru, as it "ran out of fuel".

The pilot of 6E-6764 (A321), which took off from Guwahati at 4:40 pm, attempted to land at Chennai around 7:45, but decided to "go around" after failing to get the permission to do so. 

The diversion occurred because of congestion at Chennai airport, which prevented the aircraft from landing there in time, the sources said. 

The incident took place on Thursday and both pilots have been derostered.

"The incident occurred on June 19. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Chennai at about 7.45 pm, but due to bad weather in Chennai, it could not land. The pilot opted to divert the flight to Bengaluru, but realised they ran out of fuel. So, he alerted the airport with a mayday call," said the spokesperson.

According to IndiGo, the flight finally landed safely in Bengaluru at about 8.20 pm on June 19.

On Friday, a Madurai-bound Indigo flight suffered a technical snag mid-air and sought permission to fly back to Chennai and land, sources said. The plane, carrying about 68 passengers, landed safely and all the passengers were deplaned with due safety measures in place, sources added.

On June 12, the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.