An Air India Express flight from Singapore carrying around 180 passengers narrowly avoided a major accident after the pilots were forced to abort landing at Chennai airport on Wednesday morning due to an unstable approach and cross winds.

The flight, which was scheduled to land at 10:15 am, descended to 200 feet before the pilots executed a go-around, aviation authorities confirmed.

The landing was aborted after what was described as an "unstabilised approach" — a condition where the aircraft does not meet all the necessary parameters for a safe touchdown.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials said the incident occurred at the St. Thomas Mount end of the runway.

“A safe landing requires a controlled descent rate, correct speed, and alignment. In this case, the descent was too steep, and there was a sudden shift in wind speed,” a person familiar with the incident told Times of India.

The pilots managed to land the aircraft safely on the second attempt after circling the airport, resulting in a delay of nearly 30 minutes.

All passengers onboard are safe. Airport officials confirmed the decision to call off the initial landing was taken as a precautionary measure.

The incident has reignited concerns about recent landing-related safety issues at Chennai airport.

In March, an IndiGo Airbus A321 flight arriving from Mumbai sustained tail damage during touchdown.

In October last year, another IndiGo flight from Jaipur had to perform a touch-and-go maneuver due to comparable circumstances.