An Air India flight from Riyadh to Mumbai with nearly 300 passengers on board on Friday afternoon got stuck in the aerobridge at Mumbai airport after arrival.
Mumbai airport sources said that AI flight number 922, a Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, landed at the city airport at around 2.30 pm and was taxiing towards the allocated contract bay on the instruction of air traffic control manager. Suddenly, it failed to stop at the designated position and its left engine rammed into the aerobridge. However, Air India officials have held Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) responsible for the entire incident.
A senior official with the national carrier told this newspaper, “Due to unavailability of the automated system of MIAL, the incident took place. The marshal of the airline was doing it manually and in the process, one engine touched the aerobridge”. He added that while the aircraft was being parked at the arrival bay, MIAL’s guidance system displayed wrong information due to which the left engine of the aircraft came into contact with the parked aerobridge.
Whereas MIAL officials said, “The aircraft was being marshaled and guided by Air India staff when it collided with the aerobridge”.
MIAL spokesperson said, “There was no impact on operations due to the incident. Also, none of the passengers, airline crew, or aerobridge operators were injured”.
Meanwhile, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe into the matter and asked for a report from Air India.
According to MIAL sources, the rim of the engine was damaged while the Air India official spokesperson said, “The engine suffered a minor bump and has gone for maintenance in the hangar”. A highly placed officials of Air India told this newspaper over phone from Delhi that as per its regular schedule, the aircraft was going to fly on Saturday to Riyadh for its next leg journey.
