2 SpiceJet Boeing 737 flights make emergency landing, several passengers stranded

Two Boeing 737 passenger planes of SpiceJet suffered technical glitches forcing them to make emergency landing ahead of their scheduled routes on Saturday.

The SpiceJet flight SG 8720 from Bengaluru to New Delhi made an emergency landing at Nagpur airport during the wee hours of Saturday. The aircraft was carrying 152 passengers.

The airline officials said that the aircraft took off from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru at 11.30 pm and had made an emergency landing at Nagpur because of fuel tank lid problem. The passengers were shifted to another plane after they were made to wait for eight hours.

In a similar incident, a Chennai-bound SpiceJet flight SG-611 which departed from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai at around 7.30 am also suffered technical snags and had to return to the airport. The pilots had to terminate the journey after being airborne for about 16 minutes.

A SpiceJet spokesperson confirmed the return of its Chennai flight to Mumbai due to a "technical" issue. "The aircraft has already departed back for its destination around 10 am after the engineers rectified the glitch," the spokesperson said, reports PTI.

In a statement, the airlines said, "On 11th May 2019, SpiceJet flight SG-611 operating from Mumbai to Chennai returned back to Mumbai due to a technical issue. The issue has been rectified and boarding has started and the aircraft will depart shortly."