Aircraft bird hit incidents increase by 62% in H1 of 2023, says DGCA

Last Friday an AIX Connect flight en route to Surat returned to Delhi after the plane’s windshield cracked, having suffered a bird hit during take-off. Such bird strike incidents are on the rise in India, DGCA data shows, coinciding with a time when airlines are increasing their flights to meet escalating demand.

The number of aircraft bird hit incidents in India surged by 62.29 per cent year-on-year to 1,149 in the first half of 2023, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) data, as reviewed by Business Standard. Bird hits are not the sole concern; animal strike incidents at Indian airports also increased to 20 in the first half of 2023 from 14 in the corresponding period the previous year.