Airport authorities responded late to fire alarm, says ATC

On Monday, officials of the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) had a tough time contacting emergency fire services (EFS) operated by the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) after they spotted smoke in one of the aircrafts of Air India parked at the bay. They allege that they tried contacting the EFS thrice through the radio transmission device, but there was no response. They had to finally call up the hotline to get the EFS to pitch in.

At 10.25am, Air India flight IC 864 Mumbai-Delhi-Chandigarh was parked at bay number G11 of Mumbai airport with 125 passengers on board when an ATC official saw some smoke coming out from the auxiliary power unit (APU) located near the tail of the aircraft. “We contacted the EFS on the walkie talkie, but to no avail,” said a senior ATC official. “We tried again, but still no contact could be established. We had to then contact them over the hotline, which is to be used only in extreme situations,” he said.

The MIAL spokesperson denied that there was delay. “At 10.28am, the EFS received a call from the ATC about fire  on an aircraft. At 10.29am, three fire tenders reported to the incident site and inspected the aircraft. At 10.31am, they informed the ATC that there were no visible signs of fire or smoke. The aircraft was airborne at 10.47am,” he said.

The AI spokesperson said though there was some smoke coming out of the APU, this is a normal occurrence after the APU is shut before push-back.