AI aircraft makes emergency landing at Kochi

An Air India aircraft, with 49 on board, landed under emergency conditions at the Kochi airport on Tuesday soon after take off after the pilot noticed some technical problem in one of the engines.

The Kochi-Bangalore-Chennai A-320 IC 509 flight with 42 passengers and seven crewmembers had taken off for Bangalore at 0700 hours from Nedumbassery airport, but returned within 30 minutes after the problem was noticed, airport sources said.

Fire services personnel and ambulances were called at the airport to meet any eventuality, the sources said.

Technicians from Chennai are trying to rectify the fault.

Twelve passengers were put on a Kingfisher flight to Bangalore and the rest would be accommodated in the Jetlite flight to Hyderabad and Chennai, airline sources said.