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Chennai: An Air India flight from Thiruvananthrampuram to New Delhi was forced to make an emergency landing at Chennai International Airport following a critical radar system failure. The flight, AI 2454 (also reported as AI 2455), departed Trivandrum at 7:50 PM with over a hundred passengers onboard, including five Members of Parliament. About an hour into the journey, the crew detected a malfunction in the aircraft’s radar communication system, which is essential for navigation and air traffic coordination.
Given the severity of the issue, the pilot decided to divert the flight to Chennai as a precautionary measure. However, the situation escalated when the aircraft encountered another alarming problem during its landing attempt. Passengers reported that as the plane descended, another aircraft was still occupying the runway, creating a potential collision risk. Acting swiftly, the pilot aborted the landing, accelerated the plane back into the air, and circled the airport for nearly 30 minutes before making a second—and this time successful—landing.
MPs Onboard Raise Safety Concerns, Demand Investigation
Among the passengers were four Kerala MPs—KC Venugopal, Kodikunnil Suresh, Adoor Prakash, and K. Radhakrishnan—as well as Tamil Nadu MP Robert Bruce. Following the harrowing experience, KC Venugopal, a senior Congress leader, filed an official complaint with aviation authorities, calling for an urgent investigation into the incident.
In a post on social media platform X, Venugopal described the flight as a "terrifying journey," revealing that the aircraft had also experienced an unexplained drop in cabin pressure before the radar failure. He praised the pilot’s quick thinking in averting a runway collision but emphasized that passenger safety "should not depend on luck." The MPs have demanded accountability from Air India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), urging stricter enforcement of maintenance checks and air traffic control protocols to prevent such incidents in the future.
Air India Clarifies Emergency Landing: "Precautionary Diversion, No Runway Obstruction"
Air India Responds to MP’s Safety ConcernsAir India has issued an official statement addressing Congress MP KC Venugopal’s complaint regarding Flight AI 2454’s emergency landing in Chennai on [date]. The airline confirmed the diversion was "precautionary," citing a "suspected technical issue and poor weather conditions"—contradicting passenger accounts of a near-miss with another aircraft on the runway.
In its response, Air India emphasized that the "go-around was instructed by Chennai Air Traffic Control (ATC)" during the first landing attempt and denied any runway obstruction. The statement reiterated that pilots "followed standard procedures" and acknowledged the "unsettling" nature of the incident while underscoring safety as their "priority."
