A Dubai-bound Indigo aircraft which was moving on the runway of the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) here suffered a bird-hit on Thursday morning, forcing the cancellation of the take-off, airport sources said.

Sources said the incident occurred at around 8.30 am. The bird hit one of the wings of the aircraft, which was all set to take off.

The pilot immediately informed the Air Traffic Control and the take-off was aborted.

Following the incident, the 160 passengers were deboarded from the flight.

The incident caused anxious moments at the airport for some time. Later, alternate arrangements were made for the passengers to travel to Dubai by another flight, which arrived from Bengaluru.

The grounded flight is being inspected by the technicians, they said.

MIA authorities in a statement said the flight 6E 1467 IXE-DXB (8.25 am departure) suffered a bird hit as it entered the runway from taxiway. The pilot informed the ATC and returned to the apron at 8.30 am. All the passengers were deplaned and the aircraft was declared aircraft on ground (AOG) for a thorough engineering inspection.

“IndiGo has made alternate travel arrangements for the 165 passengers who were scheduled to fly to Bengaluru on flight 6E 5347 (scheduled departure at 9.10 am). There was no panic as reported,” the statement said.

The rescheduled Dubai flight left at 11.05 am.

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