An IndiGo flight from Goa, which was scheduled to land at the Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad, was diverted to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Sunday evening. The diversion happened due to a lack of parking spots, according to a source.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, IndiGo flight 6E2575 was scheduled to depart from Goa at 2:20 pm and land in Ghaziabad at 4:50 pm. The flight took off at 2:33 pm and was diverted to Delhi eventually, as per the website.
“As the flight was approaching to land at Hindon Airport, we were given directions to divert to IGIA due to unavailability of parking,” a source said.
Passengers deboarded the plane at IGIA after some confusion. “When we reached Hindon, the pilot kept flying around the airport for around 45 minutes before taking us to the IGIA, where we eventually landed at Terminal 3,” said Ajay Mishra, a neurosurgeon and a passenger on the plane. “When we said we wanted to exit the plane, the crew said we will go to Hindon again. That is when the passengers created a ruckus, after which we were allowed to leave the plane,” Mishra said.
According to the airline, the aircraft had to take permission from the Hindon airport for another attempt at landing. “While we awaited clearance from Hindon regarding whether we could return and deboard there, the approval took some time,” the source said.
The Indian Express reached out to IndiGo for an official response but could not get a comment.
The commercial flight operation was launched at the Hindon Airport in 2019. Air India Express started its operations from the airport in March to five cities. Meanwhile, IndiGo commenced operations from Hindon just last week on July 20, with direct flights to eight cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Indore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, and Varanasi.
