A full-scale emergency was declared at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on May 18 night after an Air India Express flight bound to Kochi made an emergency landing due to a reported fire in one of the engines.
Flight IX 1132 had 179 passengers and six crew members onboard and airport officials said that they were evacuated from the aircraft
“On May 18, 2024, IX 1132 from Bengaluru to Kochi made an emergency landing at BLR Airport at 11.12 p.m., due to a reported fire in one of the engines. A full-scale emergency was declared, and the fire was promptly extinguished upon landing. All 179 passengers and 6 crew members have been successfully evacuated from the aircraft,” a BIAL spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that a full emergency was declared at 11.03 p.m. and was withdrawn at 11.39 p.m.
“Fire was extinguished immediately as the plane landed,” the BIAL spokesperson added.
The airline in a statement said, “As flames were seen emanating from the right engine after takeoff, the Bengaluru-Kochi flight elected to return and carried out a precautionary landing at Bengaluru. The ground services also reported flames, resulting in an evacuation. The crew accomplished an evacuation with no injuries to any guests. We regret the inconvenience this has caused and are working to provide alternative arrangements for our guests to reach their destination as soon as possible.”
It added that a thorough investigation with the regulator shall be accomplished to establish the cause.
As per FlightAware, a flight tracking and data platform, on Saturday flight IX 1132, a 320 aircraft left, Jaipur at 6:26 p.m. and arrived at Pune at 7:44 p.m., from Pune it departed to Bengaluru at 8:36 p.m. and arrived at KIA at 9:59 p.m. The flight left KIA at 10:49 p.m. to Kochi but had to return to the airport at 11:12 pm after the flight was noticed in one of the engines.
