By Aditi Shah and Neha Arora
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s biggest airline, IndiGo, said on Sunday it had diverted a plane to Karachi in neighbouring Pakistan due to a “technical defect”, the second such incident for an Indian carrier involving an unscheduled landing in less than two weeks.
The flight was meant to go to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates from the southern city of Hyderabad. It was not immediately clear when the incident occurred.
“IndiGo flight 6E-1406, operating from Sharjah to Hyderabad was diverted to Karachi. The pilot observed a technical defect,” IndiGo said in a statement to the media.
“Necessary procedures were followed and as a precaution the aircraft was diverted to Karachi.”
IndiGo was dispatching an additional flight to Karachi to bring passengers back to Hyderabad, it said.
SpiceJet said on July 5 a Boeing 737 aircraft from New Delhi to Dubai made an emergency landing in Karachi due to a fuel indicator light malfunctioning, prompting the airlines watchdog to issue a warning notice.
India has seen a strong revival in domestic and international air travel in the months following lifting of COVID restrictions.
(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Neha Arora; Editing by Rupam Jain and William Mallard)
