NEW DELHI: A Qatar Airways aircraft had a fire scare at Kolkata airport early on Thursday morning, due to which boarding of Doha-bound passengers supposed to travel on it was stopped. The scare turned out to be a false one and the aircraft left with a delay after checks.
An Airports Authority of India official said: “On Thursday while boarding of Qatar Airways flight QR-541 Kolkata-Doha was in progress, the pilot observed fire indication in APU (auxillary power unit). Full emergency was declared by air traffic control at 3 am which was withdrawn at 4 am. After the aircraft was checked and cleared, boarding started again at 6.43 am. Meanwhile, tea and snacks were provided to passengers by the airline. The flight left at 8.11 am.”
Confirming this, a Qatar Airways spokesperson said: “Qatar Airways regrets the delay to flight QR541 from Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport to Doha due to a technical issue on board that resulted in a short delay.
