AirAsia India, IndiGo flights came within 8 km of each other on January 29: Investigation report

AirAsia India’s Ahmedabad-Chennai flight and IndiGo’s Bengaluru-Vadodara flight came within 8 km of each other with 300 feet vertical separation between them over Mumbai airspace on January 29, according to an Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report.

The probable cause for this “serious incident” was the air traffic controller’s “loss of situational awareness”, the report released earlier this month said.

Another probable cause was that the situation was evaluated by the controller at the Mumbai airport “under the influence of preconceived mind”, it said.

Explaining the incident, the report said that most of the flights that go from Ahmedabad to southern India overfly Bhavnagar. However, on January 29, the AirAsia India flight was on a route that is usually taken by planes descending to land at the Mumbai airport.