NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing a GoAir flight that took off with 160 passengers from Chennai for Port Blair on Tuesday (Dec 15) without having clearance to land at the destination. The flight, G8-1305, took off from Chennai at 3 pm and returned there at 5.15 pm once the airline realised it did not have the nod to land at Port Blair.
“We are probing this,” said a senior DGCA official. The regulator is probing if this was meant to be a cargo-only flight and not to carry passengers on it.
A GoAir spokesman said "flight G8 1305 from Chennai to Port Blair did an air turn back/diversion due to operational reasons and landed in Chennai with 160 passengers on board. GoAir has taken outmost care and rendered all the requisite assistance to the passengers. The airline sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to the passengers.”
Sources say G8-1305 pilots wrote in the flight report book (the journey log) that they returned to Chennai because “as per Port Blair ATC no landing clearance” — meaning they were not cleared to land there.
Viral Patel, who was on this flight, Tweeted on Wednesday from his handle (@patelv87 ): “GoAir what you did to us (on Tuesday) is pathetic while going from Chennai to Port Blair…. They board consumer (on) flight… it’s cargo flight. We (are) all stuck at Chennai airport.”