SpiceJet clips Akasa planes’ wing on T1
A SpiceJet plane taxiing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport Terminal 1 struck a stationary Akasa aircraft on Thursday around 2.15 pm, causing damage to both the planes.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA has initiated a probe into the incident. Both Boeing 737 aircraft have been grounded at the airport after the incident. An Air Traffic Controller official and the SpiceJet pilots have been derostered.
Akasa Air’s plane was to operate flight QP 1406 from Delhi to Hyderabad, while the SpiceJet aircraft had arrived from Leh after operating the flight SG 124.
The right winglet of SpiceJet was damaged and the left-hand horizontal stabiliser of Akasa was hit.
This incident comes against the backdrop of several other safety-related events at Delhi airport in recent months.
FlightRadar24 playback indicates that the incident occurred when the SpiceJet aircraft from Leh was pulling into the gate, and Akasa Air’s aircraft was pushing back for Hyderabad.
“Preliminary information indicates that Akasa’s aircraft was stationary when another airline’s aircraft made contact with it. All passengers and crew were safely disembarked, and our ground teams are making alternative arrangements to fly our passengers to Hyderabad at the earliest," Akasa Airlines said in a statement.
In a statement, SpiceJet said its Boeing 737-700 aircraft was involved in a ground occurrence while taxiing at Delhi airport, resulting in damage to its right winglet and the left-hand horizontal stabiliser of another aircraft from a different airline.
According to officials, the wings of both aircraft came in contact on the taxiway. Taxiway collisions, while less dramatic than in-flight incidents, are considered serious events in aviation safety protocols.
A similar incident occurred on February 3, when an IndiGo aircraft made wingtip contact with an Air India plane at Mumbai airport. At the time of the incident, the IndiGo aircraft had landed and was taxiing while the Air India aircraft was waiting on the taxiway before departure.
