Air India Delhi-Patna Flight Suffers Bird Strike While Landing At Patna Airport

Patna: An Air India flight from Delhi to Patna carrying 164 passengers was hit by a bird while landing at Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna on Monday morning, marking the second such incident at the Bihar capital’s airport within a week.

Flight AI 1741 landed safely at 7:43 am, following which airport authorities activated the emergency landing protocol and deployed fire and other emergency services as a precaution.

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According to airport officials, the pilot reported a suspected bird strike near the aircraft’s right engine while approaching the runway. A post-landing inspection confirmed the bird strike but found no damage to the engine. After completing mandatory safety checks, the aircraft was cleared to operate its return flight to Delhi. Flight AI 1852, carrying 160 passengers, departed at 10:09 am, 79 minutes behind its scheduled departure time of 8:45 am.

During a routine inspection before flight operations began on Sunday, airport officials reportedly found the remains of a bat weighing around 1.5 kg on the runway. No flight had reported a bird strike the previous evening, officials said.

The latest incident comes days after another Air India Delhi-Patna flight suffered a bird strike on August 17, forcing the aircraft to remain grounded for two days. Maintenance engineers were flown in from Delhi to carry out repairs, after which the aircraft was cleared for operations following inspection and approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Officials said bird activity around the airport typically increases during the monsoon as grass along the runway grows rapidly. They suspected that mowing operations could temporarily attract birds by exposing insects.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has deployed bird chasers equipped with firearms and firecrackers to keep birds away from the airport’s operational area.