Air India flight to Srinagar hovers over Jammu airport then returns to Delhi without landing

An Air India Express flight from Delhi to Srinagar via Jammu had to return to its original airport after it failed to make a landing at its destination on Monday afternoon.

It is yet to be ascertained what made the flight to return back to is destination without landing.

The flight IX-2564 was supposed to land in Jammu and then leave for Srinagar but the pilot after hovering the plane over the airport for sometime in the afternoon decided not to land and return to Delhi, said officials, as reported by PTI.

Prima facie, it seems the pilot could not find the appropriate landing area despite the weather and the runway being clear, the officials further said.

Air India ordered to sack officials

After the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on June 20 ordered immediate action against three senior officials of Air India. The company has been asked to remove the officials on grounds of “serious and repeated violations” of aviation safety protocols.

“The voluntary disclosures, while noted, point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability. Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible for these operational lapses,” the order read.

Choorah Singh, Divisional Vice President; Pinky Mittal, Chief Manager - DOPS, Crew Scheduling; and Payal Arora were directly held responsible for several lapses, including unauthorised and non-compliant crew pairings, violations of licensing and crew rest norms and systemic failures in oversight, according to the to the DGCA order.

“Internal disciplinary proceedings must be initiated against these officials without delay, and the outcome of such proceedings shall be reported to this office within 10 days from the date of issue of this letter,” the order stated.