Diverted IndiGo flight reaches VSS Airport in the evening; PM’s Principal Secretary was among the passengers.
Jharsuguda : An Indigo aircraft, operating on the Delhi-Jharsuguda route, was unable to land at Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Airport, Jharsuguda due to runway maintenance and was diverted to Bhubaneswar. Among the 168 passengers on board was Dr. P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Dr. Mishra was en route to attend the convocation ceremony at IIM Sambalpur, scheduled for Saturday. The aircraft, which departed from Delhi, was originally scheduled to land at VSS Airport at 15:20 PM. However, due to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued for runway maintenance at Jharsuguda, the flight was diverted mid-air to Bhubaneswar.
Following a delay of nearly four hours, Dr. Mishra and other passengers were flown back to Jharsuguda, where the aircraft landed at 17:13 PM.
Jharsuguda Airport Director Sandeep Kumar Tiwari said, “We always conduct a routine check of the runway daily before start of operations for any wear and tear issue and in case of any issue, take maintenance/repair work immediately. It is also done before and after the flight lands/takeoff. Subsequently, today we had to scheduled Runway maintenance work found after runway inspection. Generally, we complete the runway maintenance/repair work within half an hour but if the work requires time more than 30 mins., We take NOTAM (Notice to Airmen). Today also a NOTAM was taken till 5:30 pm to complete the runway maintenance/repair and due to this the Indigo Delhi flight 6E-2274, which was scheduled to arrive at 3:25 pm was diverted to Bhubaneswar. However, after the clearance, the same flight arrived at VSS Airport at 7:13 pm.”
Presently, Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda has three flight operators including Indigo which runs flight for Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, while Star Air runs flights for Hyderabad, Lucknow and Raipur whereas Alliance air connects Bhubaneswar.
