New Delhi, Aug. 21 (PTI): A Jet Airways Boeing plane carrying over 140 passengers and eight crew members from Doha to Kochi landed at Thiruvananthapuram with near-empty fuel tanks in an incident termed as "serious" by the DGCA which grounded both the pilots.

The fuel in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was on "reserve" after it did six go-arounds over Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram airports, DGCA sources said today.

The plane had only 270kg of fuel left at the time of landing at Thiruvananthapuram as against a mandatory requirement of 1,500kg along with alternative fuel, a source said. "Even a 10 minute taxiing of a Boeing 737-800 burns 270kg of fuel."

Describing the incident as "serious", the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which functions under the civil aviation ministry, to probe the incident which took place on August 18.

The civil aviation regulator grounded the two pilots pending inquiry, the sources said.

Following the incident, DGCA is now reviewing the fuel uplift policy of the airline to examine whether it was carrying less fuel to save costs, they said.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Kochi airport but, after failing to do so despite three go-arounds because of bad weather, the pilot sought diversion to Thiruvananthapuram airport citing a "fuel emergency" rather than taking it to the nearest airport, which was Bangalore.

"Thiruvananthapuram airport also had bad weather and the pilot could land there only on the fourth attempt. Moreover, in a violation of unscheduled landing norms, the commander diverted the plane to Thiruvananthapuram and not the nearest airport, which was Bangalore in this case," the source said.

According to the DGCA's fuel policy, an aircraft should carry taxi fuel, trip fuel, contingency fuel (which is five per cent of the trip fuel), alternative fuel as well as holding fuel for 30 minutes.

Jet Airways said the flight was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram because of low visibility at the Kochi airport.

"This is as per the standard operating safety procedure. The flight landing with 141 guests was uneventful," the airline said. DGCA sources said there were 142 passengers.

The airline said safety is of paramount importance, and to this end, planning of flight operations are conducted with a very high level of safety.

"This includes a fuel uplift that not only meets all regulatory requirements, it has additional buffers to cater to unexpected scenarios including poor weather at the alternate airport," the statement added.