Grounded Tel Aviv flight to take off tonight from Mumbai

The Tel Aviv-bound El Al Airlines flight from Mumbai, grounded due to a bird hit at Mumbai airport, is scheduled to take-off for its destination tonight, an airport official said.

"The (EL AL) flight is scheduled to leave tonight," Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson told PTI here today.

The spokesperson, however, did not give the actual time of take-off.

The aircraft belonging to Israel's national carrier, El Al, was forced to turn back to Mumbai's international airport on Thursday after a bird hit one of its engines during take-off.

It was grounded at the city's international airport since then. The passengers were transferred to hotels and the airline had to work it out with other airlines to fly them to Tel Aviv. The company stressed that there was no danger to the passengers or plane during the incident. An El Al maintenance team was flown in to Mumbai to make the plane serviceable.

"The safety issue is a superior value in the company's activity and it does not compromise on it at any stage or in any way," an El Al official said.