Aircraft carrying 60 overshoots runway

New Delhi/Jabalpur, March 12

An Alliance Air flight from Delhi carrying 55 passengers overshot the runway by 10 metres while landing at the Jabalpur airport on Saturday afternoon, aviation regulator DGCA officials said.

None of the 55 passengers or five crew members was injured, they said, adding the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had started an investigation. The incident also led to the suspension of operations at the Jabalpur (Dumna) airport till 1 pm on Sunday and cancellation of at least 10 flights from there, the airport director said.

Alliance Air said it had de-rostered the pilots of the flight and initiated a probe into the matter. DGCA officials said the Delhi-Jabalpur flight was operated using a 70-seater ATR-72 aircraft.

In a statement, Alliance Air said during the operation of Alliance Air flight 9I 617 from Delhi to Jabalpur on March 12, it shot off the runway by 10 metres. “We are grateful that all passengers and crew onboard the flight are safe. Our first priority was to evacuate passengers without compromising their safety,” the airline’s statement noted.

The Alliance Air flight departed from Delhi at around 11.30 am and landed in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh around 1.15 pm. The airport at Dumna, where the incident took place, is located around 21 km from Jabalpur city. Airport Director Kusum Das said 10 flights from Jabalpur, including one scheduled for Sunday morning, had been cancelled. She said operations at the airport would remain suspended till 1 pm on Sunday. —