Two AirAsia flights headed for Srinagar returns to Delhi after technical snag mid-air

Two of AirAsia India's A320 aircraft were forced to return to the national capital during their flight from Delhi to Srinagar, due to technical issues. The two aircraft faced technical snags mid-air within a time span of six hours on Saturday. Both the aircrafts safely returned to Delhi.

The Delhi-Srinagar flight I5-712, took off from the Delhi airport at around 11.55 AM. According to a passenger, the A320 aircraft with registration number VT-APJ, faced some issues mid-air about half an hour after it took off from the Delhi airport. The pilot announced that the aircraft (VT-APJ) is facing a technical snag, a passenger who was on this flight told PTI.

Two AirAsia flights face technical snags mid-air

Following this, the VT-APJ aircraft was forced to return and safely landed at Delhi airport at around 1.45 PM with its passengers. Meanwhile, another A320 aircraft with registration number VT-RED was arranged by the airline to conduct the I5-712 flight to take the stranded passengers to Srinagar. However, the VT-RED aircraft also developed a technical snag, as informed by the flight’s pilot mid-air, and returned to the Delhi airport, the passenger said.

The second aircraft safely returned to Delhi airport at around 5.30 PM with the passengers. Following the failure of the second trip, the airline called off the flight and offered the passengers a refund on a cancellation or a chance to book another flight within the next 30 days, the passenger stated.

Speaking about the incident of two flights being forced to be called off mid-air, an AirAsia India spokesperson said that the aircraft was being operated after rectification of the technical issues. "AirAsia India confirms that flight i5-712 from Delhi to Srinagar had to return back to Delhi on account of a technical snag. The aircraft is being operated after rectification of the snag to recover continuity of operations to and from Srinagar," the airline's spokesperson said. "We regret the inconvenience and disruption to the travel plans of our guests and reaffirm our commitment to safety in all our operations," the spokesperson noted.

Image: PTI