Air India Plane carrying 179 passengers hits building with wingtip in Stockholm's Arlanda airport

An Air India plane carrying 179 passengers struck a building at Stockholm's Arlanda airport with its wingtip as it taxied to gate on Wednesday, 28 November, but no injuries were reported, police said. The 179 passengers could disembark from the plane on a mobile staircase and thereafter enter the terminal. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Read: Dubai-bound Air India Flight Hits Trichy Airport Compound Wall; All Passengers On Board Safe

It occurred at 5:45 pm (1645 GMT), about 50 meters (yards) from Terminal 5, the main terminal for international flights. Pictures from the scene showed the Boeing aircraft parked on the runway with the very tip of its left wing stuck in the side of a building.

Several police cars and fire trucks were parked by the plane. According to airport operator Swedavia's website, the flight had originated in New Delhi.

Read: Air India Sacks Pilot Who Failed Pre-flight Alcohol Test; ICPA Calls Him A "repeated Offender"

Earlier, Air India's Director of Operations, Arvind Kathpalia, had been sacked from his post, a day after his flying license got suspended for three years by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This decision came after the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) called for an immediate removal of Kathpalia from the national carrier's board calling him a 'repeated offender' who is responsible for putting the lives of his passengers in danger.   

The airlines grounded its chief of operations Captain A K Kathpalia after he allegedly failed to clear pre-flight alcohol test, while another Air India flight was delayed by over six hours after a pilot forgot to undergo the mandatory breath analyser test, airline sources said.

Kathpalia was to operate the airline's London-New Delhi flight on Sunday afternoon. Air India had to call another pilot to replace him and operate the flight (AI-111), which departed after a delay of 55 minutes, causing inconvenience to passengers, an airline source said.

"We have grounded Capt A K Kathpalia as he failed twice in the breath analyser test. He was to operate the London flight from New Delhi, but he failed to clear the pre-flight alcohol test. He was given another chance, but the second test was also found the positive following which he was grounded," he said.

The co-pilot involved in the incident has been grounded for three months as per the DGCA rules for skipping the pre-flight alcohol test, the source said.

(With inputs from PTI)