Migratory bird grounds Air Arabia aircraft at city airport

Coimbatore: The 106 passengers of an Air Arabia flight, which was about to land at the city airport on early Sunday morning, had a narrow escape after it was hit by a migratory bird.

The Airbus A320 aircraft, which was on its way from Sharjah, was flying over 400 feet when the incident happened, airport sources said. "The plane was approaching the airport around 3.50am when a migratory bird hit the frame close to the tail of the aircraft, leaving a gaping hole. The pilot immediately informed the air traffic control and the aircraft was landed safely," a source told TOI.

Air Arabia officials immediately brought a technical team from Chennai to repair the damaged aircraft. "Materials to seal the hole was brought from Bengaluru. The repair work was completed on Sunday evening," the source said.

Meanwhile, as many as 160 passengers, who were expected to leave for Sharjah on the same flight scheduled at 4.30am, were disappointed after the airline authorities cancelled the return flight. Many of them were Haj pilgrims.

Airport director R Mahalingam told TOI that the incident happened outside the airport campus. "We used to burst crackers to deter birds from the airport area. We also have a device, which creates gunshot sounds to chase away birds. We have taken adequate steps to prevent such incidents in future," he said.