IndiGo Airbus A320neo Lands Seconds After Air India A320neo Takes Off From Same Runway At Mumbai International Airport

On Saturday morning, June 8, an early morning flight departure and arrival at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai (BOM), could have resulted in a disaster when an IndiGo Airlines flight went to land on runway 27, as an Air India flight was still in the process of taking off. Air India’s Airbus A320neo was destined for Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV), while IndiGo was inbound from Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport, Indore (IDR)

After reviewing the footage recorded and shared widely on social media, it appears that the Air India flight was still accelerating down the runway, and the IndiGo flight descended towards the ground. As the Airbus A320neo got closer, the Air India flight was able to get airborne, likely unaware of the other aircraft thundering towards it from behind. It was able to take off without incident.

Photo: Airbus

Simple Flying has contacted Air India and IndiGo regarding the near miss; however, they did not respond when this article was published. When we receive a response, we will update this article.

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The incident involved an Airbus A320neo and A321neo.

Flight details and aircraft

Air India VT-RTS / AI657

According to ch-Aviation, an online aircraft database, the Air India aircraft involved was VT-RTS (serial number 11985). A near-new Airbus A320neo was delivered to the Star Alliance carrier on March 7 this year. It is configured in all economy class, seating 180 passengers.

Operating as AI657, looking at Flightradar24, a global flight tracker, the flight was scheduled from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram with an initial departure time of 05:45. However, the flight experienced a delay on departure and was only pushed back from the gate at 06:15. Its expected arrival time to Thiruvananthapuram was 08:10, however, arrived a fraction early, at 08:03

IndiGo VT-ISV / 6E5053

Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo was operating the inbound flight. It departed from Indore as 6E5053 early, at 0525, five minutes ahead of its scheduled time of 05:30; the service traveled southwest with a short flight time of just 50 minutes. On approach to Mumbai, the flight descended from its cruising altitude of 32,000 feet and touched down in Mumbai at 06:15, 25 minutes ahead of the scheduled time of 06:40.

Photo: BoeingMan777 | Shutterstock

The aircraft operating the flight was a three-year-old A320neo, first delivered to IndiGo on July 9, 2021. It bears registration VT-ISV, serial number 10559, and is powered by two x CFMI LEAP-1A26 engines.

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