An Air India Express flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat, Oman returned shortly after take-off due to a technical glitch in its on-board computer system. There were 105 passengers on board the flight, and they were later sent to Muscat on another aircraft that departed post noon, an Air India Express spokesperson said. Air India Express is a Kerala-based subsidiary of Air India, and offers low-cost flights.
The Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat flight IX 549 took off from Kerala’s capital at 8.30 am on Monday, January 23, and made an emergency landing at the same airport at 9.17 am. According to reports, a problem was noticed in the flight management system, prompting the pilots to turn the plane around. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is looking into the incident. "All 105 passengers and the cabin crew are safe," the spokesperson had said after the morning flight returned to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.
In December 2022, the airline was in the news as a snake was reportedly found in the cargo hold of a flight from Calicut in Kerala to Dubai, a senior official told PTI. That the passengers were safely deboarded and that the DGCA had initiated a probe.