Air India Express denies emergency landing of Dubai flight during flight diversion in Kerala

Dubai: Indian carrier Air India Express has denied reports of a UAE-India flight with 118 passengers making an emergency landing in Kerala on Tuesday.

A section of the Indian and UAE media reported that an Air India flight from Dubai to Mangalore on Tuesday morning made an emergency landing in Kochi.

However, an Air India Express spokesperson confirmed to Gulf News that the flight belonged to the low budget arm of India’s national carrier and it was not an emergency landing.

“It was an IX (Air India Express) flight and it was not an emergency landing. This was a normal, weather-related diversion,” the spokesperson said.

“Emergency landing is when you land at the nearest available airport on an emergency. I do not know why they [some media] call a planned diversion an emergency,” he added.

He confirmed that all the passengers and crew on board were safe and arrangements were made for transferring the passengers to their actual destination later.

“They went to Mangalore by the same flight,” he added.