The Air India flight stranded at Biju Patnaik Airport on Monday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 6: A Delhi-bound Air India flight returned from mid-air in the early hours here today.

Poor visibility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi forced the return and the aircraft had to hover over the Biju Patnaik Airport here for about 30 minutes before making a landing. The airport authorities here attributed the delayed landing, which took place at 12.27am, to a possible attempt by the pilot to reduce the plane’s fuel load.

The explanation, however, raises questions as the aircraft did not have any technical snags that might have necessitated emergency landing after fuel burning.

Significantly, the flight had taken off from the Biju Patnaik airport around 10.20pm on Sunday despite an earlier Indigo flight to Delhi having been forced to return because of heavy fog at the IGI airport.

The delayed landing of the AI flight has also raised issues of preparedness of the ground and technical staff at the Biju Patnaik airport for late night landings.

Bibhu Dutta, a Puri resident, who was on the aborted AI flight, said: “We had requested the authorities to cancel the flight as an earlier one had returned from Delhi, but they said the night landing system at IGIA would ensure safe landing. But after travelling some distance, the crew decided to return to Bhubaneswar.’’

Airport director Sharad Kumar said: “The flight must have travelled for around 45 minutes going a distance close to 750km before turning back. Since it was loaded with fuel”, the pilots must have decided to reduce the load penalty or fuel weight by circling over the city.’’

Another official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) managing air traffic control (ATC) said: “Unless the fuel is burnt, there might be need for an emergency landing that could have been risky at that hour at the Bhubaneswar airport.” The official said while international flights eject fuel under such circumstances, domestic flights circle in the airspace to cut down fuel load.

The city airport operates from 6.45am to 10.30pm daily, but before winding up operations, the ATC officials inform their Calcutta counterparts as Bhubaneswar is considered a standby airport.

“If they tell us that there is a landing beyond 10.30pm, then we wait till the flight lands in Calcutta as there is a possibility of diversion,” said an official.

Kumar denied any neglect by ATC or ground staff in Bhubaneswar last night saying the runway was ready for the landing of the flight from Delhi.

“On many occasions, the flights return just after 15 or 30 minutes after take off due to bird hits. In those cases they don’t need to reduce fuel burden. So, the AAI theory about last night’s incident does not sound plausible,” said Piyush Ranjan Rout, a frequent flier.

Bhubaneswar has a CAT I landing facility, which allows landing only if the visibility is around 500m.