Bengaluru, 20 April 

A Fly91 flight from Hyderabad to Hubballi in Karnataka on Sunday was diverted to Bengaluru due to adverse weather conditions, with airport officials maintaining that all passengers were safe.

The incident caused panic among the passengers as the aircraft remained airborne for three-and-half hours, even as officials and the airline maintained this was standard protocol.

Some of the scared passengers were in tears and started praying for their safety. Sources said there were 22 passengers on board.

The aircraft-ATR 72-600, which departed from Hyderabad at around 3pm, was scheduled to land in Hubballi 90 minutes later, but couldn't due to unfavourable weather, sources said.

Due to the bad weather, the flight was diverted to Bengaluru, an airport official said, adding that such diversions are standard safety measures.

According to the official, the aircraft hovered over Hubballi, located about 400 km from here, for about an hour in anticipation of improvement in weather conditions before being diverted.

"This is general practice. Aircrafts circle in the air for some time waiting for the weather to improve. It is the pilot's decision," he said.

The flight landed in Bengaluru at around 6.30 pm and was flown back to Hubballi at about 11pm after the situation improved, the official added.

Officials also pointed to similar disruptions in the region, noting that a Mumbai-Kolhapur service was diverted to Goa due to weather conditions.

All passengers were safe. There is no issue, the official said.

In a statement, FLY91 said the flight encountered badweather upon nearing its destination due to which it was diverted to Bengaluru as per standard protocol.

The flight subsequently returned to Hubballi and back to its home base in Hyderabad, the statement added.

Fly91 said there was zero compromise to safety. Holding the aircraft over Hubballi and diverting to Bengaluru was part of the standard operating procedure. This is among the "best practices" adopted by the industry.

"FLY91 has a highly skilled team of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff which are trained to manage any situation which may come up. The regional airline has an impeccable safety record," it added.

The airlines said the aircraft did not develop any technical snag as reported in a section of the media.

"Information in some news reports pointing to a technical issue faced by the aircraft is false and baseless," the statement read.