Two planes narrowly avoided a collision on a runway at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM).
The incident occurred on June 8, 2024, when an IndiGo flight landed on the runway while an Air India flight was taking off.
A video clip of the incident, which has been shared across social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), shows the Air India plane, which was flying from Mumbai Airport to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV) on flight AI657, taking off just as the IndiGo aircraft, which flew in in from Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport (IDR), flight 6E5053, touched down.
Both planes were A320neos.
According to flight tracking site Flightradar24, the two planes were 509 meters away from each other laterally at their closest point, and were 511 meters apart when the Air India aircraft started to lift off. The IndiGo jet touched down three seconds after the lift off.
An IndiGo spokesperson told the Times of India that the IndiGo flight from Indore was given a landing clearance by the air traffic control tower.
“The pilot in command continued the approach and landing and followed (air traffic control) instructions,” the spokesperson was quoted to have said.
Meanwhile, Air India said its plane was “cleared by air traffic control to enter the runway and subsequently cleared for take-off”.
The Deccan Herald said the air traffic controller involved in the incident was “derostered” by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation and an investigation has been launched.
