Pune: An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Pune on Thursday morning had to be diverted to Surat allegedly due to the presence of birds near the runway area. The flight (6E-2471) had taken off from Delhi at 4.54am instead of its scheduled time of 4.40am and was set to touch down in Pune at 6.45am. Sources in the airport said that the flight reached Pune airport but could not land because of the presence of birds around the runway area. The aircraft, an A-320 with more than 100 flyers, hovered around the airport for around 20 minutes before heading to Surat as it had less fuel, sources said. Airport director Santosh Dhoke was yet to reply to a WhatsApp message on the matter at the time of going to press. Many WhatsApp messages sent to IndiGo also failed to yield any response. Sources in the airline said that one needed to contact Airport Authority of India and Air Traffic Control (ATC) in case of bird activities. ATC of Pune airport is managed by the Indian Air Force. Every aircraft while flying to a destination has a flight plan that includes a secondary airport on which it would land in case of problems or emergencies. If the destination of any aircraft might be hit by rough weather as the pilot sees, extra fuel is taken and in that case, load factor comes into play which includes deboarding luggage of passengers and cargo too. On May 20, a Hyderabad-bound IndiGo flight from Pune faced a major delay, resulting in passengers sitting inside the aircraft for around six hours, due to various reasons, including unusual bird activity in the airport.
