Near-miss in Mumbai: Air India, Air India Express planes face-off on same runway

New Delhi: An Air India aircraft was forced to abort its take-off run on Tuesday evening after coming face-to-face with an Air India Express plane on the same runway at Mumbai airport, a move ordered by air traffic controllers to prevent a potential disaster, sources said.

The incident occurred at approximately 10 pm. The Air India Express flight had recently landed and was still clearing the runway when the Delhi-bound Air India plane began accelerating for take-off on the same strip, according to sources.

A spokesperson for Air India confirmed that the take-off was halted following direct orders from the air traffic control tower, though specific operational details were not released.

Sources identified the Air India flight as AI816, a Mumbai-to-Delhi service operated by a wide-body Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft. The arriving Air India Express flight, AIX1547 from Siliguri, was using a narrow-body Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane.

"The crew operating flight AI816 from Mumbai to Delhi on July 7 discontinued the take-off run after receiving an instruction to do so from the Air Traffic Control and returned to the bay," the Air India spokesperson said in a statement.

A take-off run typically describes the phase where an aircraft accelerates along the runway before reaching the speed required to lift off.

The airline spokesperson added that the Boeing 777 would undergo required technical inspections in line with standard operating protocols, and noted that alternative arrangements were being organised to transport the affected passengers to Delhi as quickly as possible.

The exact number of passengers and crew on board both aircraft could not be immediately confirmed.

With inputs from PTI