Akasa Air plane suffers bird hit; aircraft grounded for inspection

An Akasa Air plane coming from Ahmedabad to Delhi suffered bird hit on Thursday but landed safely in the national capital and the aircraft has been grounded for a detailed inspection.

The airline said the Boeing 737 Max aircraft landed safely and all the passengers were deboarded on arrival.

This is at least the second incident of bird hit involving an Akasa Air aircraft. On October 15, a Bangalore-bound Akasa Air plane from Mumbai returned to the city airport due to a burning smell in the cabin, which later turned out to be due to bird strike.

On Thursday, a senior official at aviation regulator DGCA said the aircraft VT-YAF operating flight QP 1333 had a bird strike during climb out passing 1,900 feet.

"Akasa Air flight QP 1333 flying from Ahmedabad to Delhi on October 27 suffered a bird hit. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers were deboarded," the airline said in a statement.

However, the airline did not share the number of passengers.

The aircraft has been positioned (grounded) for a detailed inspection and the subsequent flight has been impacted, the statement said.

According to the DGCA official, random damage was observed during the post landing inspection of the aircraft.

"Our customer service team is assisting passengers and arrangements are being made to accommodate their journeys," Akasa Air said in the statement.