Swarm of bees halts IndiGo flight at Surat airport for nearly an hour

A swarm of bees delayed the departure of an IndiGo flight from Surat to Jaipur by nearly an hour on Monday, NDTV reported.

 

The insects had gathered near the Airbus A320’s open luggage door while the aircraft was stationed at Surat airport. Although passengers were already onboard, the flight, scheduled to depart at 4:20 pm, remained grounded until 5:26 pm.

 

Ground staff initially used smoke to disperse the bees, but the attempt failed. The fire department was then called in and used water to clear the swarm.

 

"Flight 6E-784 Surat-Jaipur was delayed due to a bee incident, which is something not under our control, so flight was departed post clearance. Standard protocols were followed," an IndiGo spokesperson told NDTV. 

 

In a separate incident on Tuesday, another IndiGo flight from Indore to Raipur returned shortly after takeoff due to a technical fault, according to an official quoted by PTI.

 

Indore's Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport director Vipinkant Seth told the news agency that the pilot realised a fault in the flight number  6E-7295 after the takeoff, following which the same was informed to Air Traffic Control (ATC) leading to the return of the flight.

 

Seth also claimed that the flight did not make an "emergency landing", the airport director claimed, without giving details of the technical fault.