A Delhi-bound IndiGo Airlines flight with 187 passengers onboard made
an emergency landing at the Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport, popularly known as the Patna airport, due to a technical snag soon after taking off on Wednesday.

“IndiGo airlines Patna-Delhi flight 2074 requested to return to Patna due to a technical problem after its departure at 12.58pm. The aircraft landed back safely,” Patna airport director Anchal Prakash said.

Prakash added that it was an “emergency landing with 187 passengers on board”.

Earlier, the flight was to take off at noon from the Patna airport for Delhi, but was rescheduled due to poor visibility induced by foggy weather, and left 58 minutes late.

Airport sources said that the pilots noticed some faults in the wheels of the aircraft soon after the takeoff.

Prima facie it seemed some issues with the hydraulic system used in the wheels.

“They (the pilots) immediately contacted the air traffic control (ATC) and sought permission for an emergency landing. It landed back safely amid the protocol for such landings, and with emergency medical and fire fighting teams in full readiness to tackle any eventuality,” an airport source said.

The aircraft was in the air for around 10 minutes after the glitch was noticed and it returned to the airport. Aircraft engineers were examining the technical issues faced by the plane.

This was the third emergency landing at the Patna airport in the last year.

Incidentally, Bihar water resources minister Sanjay Jha and Janata Dal United (JDU) Lok Sabha member from Sitamarhi, Sunil Kumar Pintu were also among the passengers.

While a few passengers chose to return to their homes after the emergency landing, the airlines arranged seats for the remaining people in other flights for their Delhi journey.