An Ariana Aghan flight on Sunday touched down on the wrong runway at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport creating a dangerous situation.
Flight FG-311, an Airbus A310 arriving from Kabul, had been cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to land on runway 29L, which was in use for all arrivals at the time. The parallel runway, 29R, was being used exclusively for departures. Despite the instructions, the aircraft aligned with and landed on 29R, creating a situation that could have interfered with outgoing traffic, an official from ATC has confirmed to The Pioneer.
Delhi airport, which handles over 1,200 flights per day, operates four runways, including the recently commissioned 29R/11L. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has opened an investigation and requested a detailed report from the flight crew.
According to officials familiar with the inquiry, the captain of the flight was identified as Abdul Maroof Sikandari.
He told investigators that the aircraft was following the Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach for 29L but encountered technical issues. He reported that both ILS systems malfunctioned after the final approach fix, leaving the crew without lateral guidance. Combined with reduced visibility, this led the aircraft to drift off its intended landing path.
An official involved in the review noted that the DGCA aims to establish whether equipment malfunction, human error, or weather conditions played the primary role in the incident. No injuries or operational disruptions were reported, but authorities emphasized that the event underscores the importance of strict adherence to approach protocols, especially during low-visibility operations.