Indian flight issues ‘mayday’ call after almost running out of fuel during diversion
Reports offer differing reasons for the IndiGo flight’s initial diversion, with the plane eventually landing safely 300km from its intended destination
MikeTyes
The pilot of an Indian passenger jet was forced to issue a “mayday” call after almost running out of fuel, according to Indian media reports.
IndiGo flight 6764 left Guwahati in the northeastern state of Assam at 4.40pm on Thursday and was heading for Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu in southern India, where it was due to arrive at 7.45pm.
The plane failed to land at Chennai, however, and was instead sent to Bengaluru in the neighbouring southern state of Karnataka, 300km away from its intended destination, where it landed at 8.15pm. All 168 passengers were deboarded safely, with no injuries reported.
Accounts of the reason for the diversion differed, with news channel NDTV quoting an IndiGo spokesperson as saying it was due to “bad weather”. “The flight was scheduled to arrive in Chennai at about 7.45pm, but due to bad weather in Chennai, it could not land. The pilot opted to divert the flight to Bengaluru, but realised they ran out of fuel. So, he alerted the airport with a mayday call," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The Indian Express reported that the pilot was denied landing at Chennai International airport because of air traffic congestion, which led the pilot to divert the aircraft to Bengaluru.
“Since the flight did not receive clearance to land at Chennai due to congestion and was flying at low fuel, the pilot announced a fuel mayday as per the protocol, and the aircraft was diverted to Bengaluru. The Bengaluru Air Traffic Control (ATC) gave a priority landing, and the flight landed safely at 8.15pm,” a source from IndiGo told the newspaper.
“Contrary to some reports, the pilot did not announce a mayday, instead a fuel mayday, which is different. Post landing, passengers were deboarded without reported injuries and were given refreshments at the airport, as per protocol.”
According to a report by the Times of India, the pilot attempted a “go around” after the landing gear touched the runway, and made the “mayday call” when it was around 56km from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International airport. Citing a source, the newspaper reported that the aircraft appeared to have an “unstabilised approach”.
Several sources at the ATC confirmed to the Times of India that the pilot did not attempt a second approach at Chennai and flew to Bengaluru.
The Independent has reached out to IndiGo for comment.
The aircraft was refuelled at Bengaluru and finally took off with a new crew and all passengers at around 10.24pm, since the crew’s flight duty time had lapsed by then. The passengers finally arrived in Chennai at 11pm.
India’s aviation sector has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks amid a series of safety and operational incidents that have raised serious concerns. Earlier this month a London-bound Air India flight crashed shortly after take-off in Ahmedabad, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. Days later, the airline was issued a stern warning by India’s aviation safety watchdog over breaches of pilot duty‑time regulations during long‑haul flights.
On Friday, passengers from two Air India Express flights landed in Patna to find that their baggage had not arrived. Recently, an IndiGo flight arriving in Raipur from New Delhi was delayed on the tarmac after a door malfunction left passengers trapped onboard for nearly 40 minutes.
According to data shared by India’s civil aviation ministry, private airlines in India reported 268 instances involving technical issues with aircraft over the 13 months leading up to January 2025. IndiGo – India’s largest airline by market share – accounted for 118 of these incidents, while Air India reported 66.
