PUNE: Air India Express' Delhi-Pune flight had to abort its landing at Pune airport on Sunday afternoon due to “adverse weather conditions”, airline officials said. It then circled before landing safely. The flight (IX-1083) took off from Delhi at 10 am with over 100 leaflets on board and was scheduled to land in Pune around 12:25 pm. Pune Airport Director Santosh Dok did not comment on a text message sent on Sunday. “Due to adverse weather conditions, the crew of our Pune-bound flight opted to perform a go-around before landing safely. Our pilots are well trained to handle such situations,” an Air India Express spokesperson said. The plane landed at 12:40 p.m. The airline did not mention any delays caused by the bird problem.Local resident Ankit Badana wrote on Xhandle that he spotted a Boeing 737 Max aircraft aborted landing. “Just now, while on approach to Pune airport, I spotted an Air India plane aborting its landing due to too many birds in the air, probably kites. It was a frightening sight even for me watching from a distance,” he wrote.Speaking to TOI, Badana said, “I live in a society on Airport Road in Vimananagar and from my place I can see the approach funnel of the airport. I was on my balcony when I saw the aircraft near the land and suddenly around 15-20 birds (kites) came on the flight path and the aircraft took off. When I saw this, I immediately posted it.”This year, flights in some parts of Pune were disrupted due to unusual bird activity near the runway. On May 20, passengers on board an IndiGo flight bound for Hyderabad waited for six hours for the controller to signal that there were no birds on the runway. At least a few more disruptions involving flight diversions were also reported during the month.
