IndiGo flight from Ayodhya diverted to Chandigarh due to bad weather around Delhi Airport

IndiGo Ayodhya-Delhi flight diverted to Chandigarh news: An IndiGo flight from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh originally to New Delhi was diverted to Chandigarh in Punjab on Saturday due to bad weather around the Delhi Airport, the private sector airline said. The flight 6E 2702 was diverted on the basis of standard operating procedure, it said.

"The captain executed a go-around which is in line with the standard operating procedure. This is an absolutely safe maneuver. The aircraft had sufficient fuel at all times to divert to an alternate airport, as per regulations. The safety of our esteemed passengers is of prime importance to us. We regret any inconvenience that may have been caused due to factors beyond the airline’s control," the airline said in a statement, seeking to allay passengers' concerns. 

Earlier, several users took to microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) to share their experiences about the incident. 

Had a harrowing experience yesterday with @IndiGo6E Flight No. 6E2702 from Ayodhya to Delhi. Scheduled departure time 3:25 p.m. and schedule arrival time 4:30 p.m.
Around 4:15 p.m. the pilot announced that there’s bad weather at @DelhiAirport. and assured that the plane has 45…

— Satish Kumar (@CopSatish499) April 14, 2024

Other airlines were also forced to divert some of their fights headed to New Delhi due to unfavourable weather around the national capital terrritory. 

Rival airline Vistara diverted two flights, from Trivandrum (TRV) in Kerala and Bhubaneswar (BBI) in Odisha, to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, and one from Mumbai in Maharashtra to Amritsar (ATQ) in Punjab.  Read more on diverted Vistara flights

An official said that as many as 22 flights originally scheduled to land at the Delhi airport diverted. Out of those, nine were diverted to Jaipur in Rajasthan, eight to Lucknow in UP, two to Chandigarh, and one each to Varanasi in UP, Amritsar in Punjab, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

The flights were diverted between 1500 hours and 1830 hours, according to the official.

Earlier on Saturday, weather office IMD forecast thunderstorms with light to moderate intensity rain with heavy intensity rain over isolated places of the Delhi-NCR region including Bahadurgarh, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram, and Manesar.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital handles around 1,300 flight movements daily.

With inputs from PTI