An Air India Express flight made a precautionary landing at Karipur Airport also known as Calicut International airport in Kerala on Friday morning after the pilot detected a fire alarm from the cargo.
The flight, with 17 passengers on board, was scheduled to go to Kuwait and all passengers were safely deplaned. The flight took off sometime past 9 am and did the precautionary landing half an hour later by 9.30. Though it was soon detected that the alarm was a false one, the flight was cancelled as a precautionary measure. The flight -IX393- a Boeing aircraft was a direct one from Kozhikode to Kuwait.
According to PG Prageesh, the head of Communications of Air India Express, the pilot noticed a fire alarm from the cargo hold area as the flight took off and decided to make the precautionary landing.
“The aircraft had a safe landing at the airport and upon landing it was found that the alarm was a false one. The reason for the false alarm would be detected through an inquiry, a technical problem may have caused it,” the officer told TNM.
The flight has been cancelled and the Air India Express will be arranging other flight options for the passengers.
“It’s not a big concern,” the Communications Head said.
The airport though known in the name of the Kozhikode (Calicut) district is located in the Malappuram district of the state.
The airport witnessed an air crash in August 2020 which took the lives of 21 passengers.
An Air India Express flight from Dubai to Kerala crashed at the runway of the airport on August 7 night. The aircraft had slipped into a slope, and split into three, causing the deaths of many including the pilots.