NEW DELHI: An Abu Dhabi-bound IndiGo flight made an unscheduled return to Kochi in the early hours of Saturday after developing a technical snag mid-air, sources said. Flight 6E-1403, operated with an A320 neo aircraft, took off from Kochi at 11.10 pm on Friday with more than 180 passengers and six crew members on board. After flying for over two hours, the aircraft was diverted back and landed safely in Kochi around 1.44 am. The airline has not issued an official statement on the incident. According to sources, the stranded passengers were accommodated on a replacement aircraft that departed Kochi at around 3.30 am. A new crew operated the onward service to Abu Dhabi, as the earlier team had to be relieved due to flight duty time limitations. Data from flight tracking website Flightradar24 confirmed that the original Kochi–Abu Dhabi service had to return mid-way before being reassigned to another aircraft.(With agency inputs)
