Two IndiGo planes with hundreds of passengers on board came close to colliding with each other mid-air on January 7 shortly after taking off from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), at an altitude of over 3000 feet over Bengaluru.
The incident occurred when IndiGo flights 6E 455 departing for Kolkata and 6E 246 for Bhubaneswar were given permission to depart at the same time. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is investigating the matter, has said that it would take the strictest action against those responsible for the incident. The incident was not recorded in any logbook and was not reported by the Airports Authority of India.
Both the aircraft took off from Bengaluru airport in a span of about five minutes.
DGCA said that the two IndiGo planes were involved in “breach of separation” at Bengaluru airport. Breach of separation happens when two aircraft cross the minimum mandatory vertical or horizontal distance in the airspace. Both these aircraft departed from the Bengaluru airport within a span of approximately 5 minutes on the morning of January 7.
“On the morning of the incident, the north runway was being used for departures and the south runway for arrivals. Later, the shift in charge decided to close the south runway but failed to inform the air traffic controller of the south tower,” said officials. As a result, the two flights were given permission for take-off at the same time from the converging runways. This resulted in a situation where the aircraft moving in the same direction were about to collide with each other. A radar controller saw this and immediately intervened to alert the aircraft.