Last weekend, an IndiGo Airbus A320neo aircraft suffered several hail damage while landing at Hyderabad International airport during bad weather conditions. AviationSource writer Gaurav Gowda reports.
On 18 March, IndiGo flight 6E 6594 was on a scheduled flight from Ahmedabad International Airport. The aircraft suffered impact damage to its radome and windshield due to heavy hail while approaching Hyderabad airport.
Indigo’s flight 6E 6594 took off from AMD at 16:28 and arrived on time at Hyderabad airport, but during its approach to runway 27L, the aircraft encountered a hailstorm, as HYD was already reporting bad weather.
With the aircraft subsequently landing safely, an inspection showed the extent of damage. The aircraft involved in this incident is an Airbus A320neo registered as VT-ITA which was 7 years old during this incident.
This aircraft was originally delivered to IndiGo in March, 2016 and has been with the airline ever since. The aviation regulator DGCA said in a statement to India today “windshield and radome were damaged due to hailstorm while flying from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad, they have been replaced.”
According to data available on Flight Radar 24, this aircraft was scheduled to fly from HYD-COK the next day after the incident but that flight was cancelled and the aircraft remained grounded at HYD.
Other IndiGo news
In other news coming from Indigo, it has been reported that the airline wasn’t able to provide satisfactory assistance to a visually impaired passenger at Dabolim Airport Goa.
The passenger Ms. Payal Kapoor explained the ordeal on social media saying: “I was assigned a staff at the airport entrance and she assisted with baggage drop and security checks.”
“However, when we got to the waiting area beside the boarding gate, the staff made me sit and said she would come back shortly.”
“She never turned up as my boarding time was getting closer, I had sudden disorientation and panic as I have partial hearing disability too.”
“So, crowded, noisy places make it difficult for me to navigate.” She also added that “Luckily, I was with a friend, who was boarding a flight to Bengaluru.”
“We went looking for the staff in other aisles and even approached the IndiGo staff, but to no avail. Eventually my friend helped me get some other staff as manual assistance staff is like my line of sight.”
“To go beyond the boarding gate, I need to hold their arm and walk with them. It is only they who guide me to the flight, help me get seated and inform the cabin crew.”
She also alleged that once the alternate staff arrived, they just dropped her at her seat and did not inform the cabin crew about her special needs.
As a result, the crew gave safety instructions and demonstrations normally and she couldn’t understand it.
Once she landed at Hyderabad she had to approach the crew to inform them that she couldn’t see, and that was when the crew assisted her, as they were previously unaware of her condition.
IndiGo later apologized and said “We sincerely apologize for the experience of a customer on-board 6E 712 due to some miscommunication.”
“We are looking at further improving our processes to avoid this in future. We are committed to provide courteous and hassle-free service to our customers at all times.”
