Mumbai-bound AirAsia aircraft from Ranchi suffers bird hit, aborts take-off

An AirAsia India aircraft departing for Mumbai on Saturday morning aborted its take-off at Ranchi airport after encountering a bird hit, said the airline spokesperson.

This incident occurred a day after an Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people onboard overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport in rainy conditions and went down 35 feet into a slope before breaking up into two pieces, killing at least 18 people.

"AirAsia India aircraft VT-HKG operating from Ranchi to Mumbai as flight i5-632 encountered a bird hit during scheduled departure at 11:50 hrs, today, 8th August 2020," stated the airline spokesperson.

The pilot aborted take-off and the aircraft is currently being inspected, the spokesperson noted, adding that the flight is scheduled to depart once the aircraft is cleared for operations.

"AirAsia India prioritises the safety of our guests and crew and regrets the inconvenience caused on account of this delay," the spokesperson said.