 "Screengrab from a video of the incident in which IndiGo and Air India planes are on the same runway at Mumbai airport")
A major accident was averted at Mumbai airport on Saturday evening when an IndiGo aircraft landed on the runway just behind an Air India plane that was moving to take off.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a probe and "derostered" the air traffic control officer (ATCO) involved in the incident, a senior official said.
In a statement, IndiGo said that its flight 6E 6053 from Indore was given landing clearance by Air Traffic Control (ATC) on Saturday at Mumbai airport.
"The Pilot in Command continued the approach and landing and followed ATC instructions. At IndiGo, passenger safety is paramount to us, and we have reported the incident as per procedure," it added.
The IndiGo A320neo aircraft (registered as VT-ISV) landed on Saturday at Mumbai airport runway at 6:16 PM. However, an Air India A320neo (VT-RTS) bound for Thiruvananthapuram, was already on the runway and in the process of taking off when the IndiGo plane touched down, aviation industry sources said. The Air India plane took off and the IndiGo aircraft safely completed its landing.
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An ATC tower coordinates and manages the safe takeoff, landing, and ground movement of aircraft, ensuring sufficient separation between planes. In India, all ATC towers, except those controlled by the defense forces, are managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The AAI spokesperson told Business Standard the authority itself, along with the DGCA, is also investigating the runway incursion incident. "The involved air traffic controller is off-rostered from ATC duties pending further investigation," the spokesperson said.
The Air Traffic Controllers Guild (ATCG), a union of ATCOs in the country, defended the actions of the suspended ATCO, stating that he or she can allow arrival or departure within a few minutes on the same runway, especially in high-density airports. "Had there been a safety risk for landing, the pilot himself would have initiated a go-around," the ATCG said. A go-around is a maneuver where a pilot abandons the landing approach and climbs back into the air to make another attempt at landing.
"ATCOs are under significant pressure when there is high-density traffic at airports...Mumbai airport is one of the busiest airports with high traffic density. On a single runway RW27 at the airport, there are around 46 arrivals and departures per hour. ATCOs are allowed to clear up to two arrivals and two departures within three minutes, subject to acceptable limits of safety," the ATCG noted.
"Also, the separation minima between two aircraft can be reduced if the visibility is good. In this particular case that happened on Saturday at the Mumbai airport, the visibility was good and there was no air proximity situation with respect to the landing IndiGo flight and the taking off Air India flight. This may be a ‘wow’ moment for outlookers but those who perform this safety-critical task daily come under part of their duty for which they are rigorously trained," it added.
Air India did not respond to Business Standard's request for a statement on this matter. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on February 15 directed the Adani Group-run Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), which runs the airport in the financial capital, to cancel certain flights as they were facing delays due to congestion in its airspace.
On February 28, the MoCA said the delays in flight arrivals had reduced significantly at Mumbai airport after the congestion-induced cancellations, which have taken place from February 15 onwards.
