Mumbai Airport: India's regulator investigates after Air India and IndiGo planes scrape wings on runway
India's civil aviation regulator has launched an investigation after two planes scraped wings on the runway at Mumbai Airport.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said an Air India aircraft was awaiting departure when an IndiGo plane, taxiing on a parallel route after landing, scraped the tip of its wing. "The right wingtips of both aircraft touched each other," the regulator said.
Both airlines confirmed that all passengers and crew were safe. The two Airbus A320 aircraft involved have been grounded for inspection.
The incident took place around 19:30 local time (14:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The Air India flight was scheduled to depart for Coimbatore in southern India, while the IndiGo aircraft had just arrived from Hyderabad city, the airlines said.
An Air India spokesperson said the aircraft sustained damage to its wingtip and that alternative arrangements were made for affected passengers. IndiGo also confirmed that all its passengers were safe and had disembarked after parking, adding that an inquiry was under way.
It comes after an Air India plane was grounded after one of its pilots raised the possibility of a defect. The issue was reported on Sunday after the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet landed in Bengaluru after a flight from London.
However, India's aviation regulator has said that no defect was found in the fuel control switch. An Air India statement said: "Air India had checked the fuel control switches on all Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet after a directive from the DGCA, and had found no issues.”
Following the latest incident, Boeing has said they are in contact with Air India and “supporting their review of this matter.”