IndiGo flight suffers ‘false cargo smoke warning’; DGCA to probe incident

An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Kolkata suffered a “false cargo smoke warning” before landing on Sunday, and the aviation regulator, DGCA, will probe the incident. The flight, carrying more than 160 people, landed safely at Kolkata airport.

After arrival at the airport, inspections were carried out in the Airbus aircraft and the “warning was confirmed as spurious”, IndiGo said in a statement on Sunday. Initially, the pilots of the airline declared ‘Mayday ‘, suspecting smoke in the cargo hold. Later, the ‘May Day’ call was canceled, and the flight landed safely, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) chief Arun Kumar told PTI.

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A Mayday call is declared when there is distress, and once declared, the airport prepares for an emergency landing. “It was a spurious warning,” Kumar said. According to IndiGo’s statement issued on Sunday evening, necessary rectifications on the detection system are in progress. The “false cargo smoke warning” occurred on flight 6E-2513 (VT-IJA), and IndiGo said in the statement that the landing was prioritized at Kolkata airport and the pilot followed standard operating procedure.

In the past few months, various airlines have faced technical issues. IndiGo is the country’s largest airline and had a market share of 58.8 percent in July.