New Delhi: An IndiGo flight from Ayodhya to Delhi on Saturday, April 13, reportedly faced a close call when it had to divert to Chandigarh due to low fuel, with passengers and a retired pilot expressing safety concerns. They alleged that IndiGo may have breached Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). 

Taking to X, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satish Kumar recounted his ‘harrowing experience’ on social media, stating that the flight (6E2702) was supposed to depart Ayodhya at 3:25 PM and land in Delhi at 4:30 PM. 

“Had a harrowing experience yesterday with @IndiGo6E Flight No. 6E2702 from Ayodhya to Delhi. Scheduled departure time 3:25 PM. and scheduled arrival time 4:30 PM. Around 4:15 PM the pilot announced that there was bad weather at the Delhi Airport and assured that the plane had 45 minutes of Holding Fuel. The pilot attempted landing twice, couldn’t due to bad weather and still wasted lot of time deciding the next course of action,” he wrote.

After two unsuccessful attempts to land at Delhi Airport, the pilot announced the flight's diversion to Chandigarh Airport. The aircraft eventually landed in Chandigarh at 6:25 PM, approximately 115 minutes after the announcement of having only 45 minutes of holding fuel remaining.

“By that time lot of passengers and one of the crew staff started puking out of panic,” the passenger further said, adding, “Finally the plane managed to land at 6:10 p.m. at Chandigarh Airport after a lapse of 115 minutes since the 45 minutes Holding fuel announcement.” 

Upon landing, passengers were informed by the crew that the aircraft had only 2 minutes of fuel remaining. “Got to know after landing that we’ve landed in the nick of time with only 1 or 2 minutes of fuel left from the crew staff. What an ordeal it was for the passengers @DGCA @MoCA_GoI kindly enquire if all SOPs were followed or was it the narrowest escape?,” the passenger tweeted.  

For the unversed, bad weather conditions led to the diversion of 22 flights at Delhi's IGI Airport between 3:00 and 6:30 PM on Saturday. Heavy rainfall in the national capital affected several flight operations. Among the diverted flights, nine were rerouted to Jaipur, eight to Lucknow, two to Chandigarh, and one each to Amritsar, Ahmedabad, and Varanasi.