Mumbai-Coimbatore flight circles mid-air for 30 minutes due to poor visibility

A domestic flight circles mid-air over Coimbatore International Airport for 30 minutes on February 7, 2025 morning before making a safe landing
| Photo Credit: M. Periasamy

An Air India Airbus A321-211 aircraft with a carrying capacity of 182 passengers from Mumbai to Coimbatore circled over Coimbatore International Airport for nearly 30 minutes before making a safe landing on Friday (February 7, 2025) morning. This was necessitated due to poor visibility.

Flight AI609 took off from Mumbai at 6:35 a.m. on Friday and was scheduled to land in Coimbatore at 8:25 a.m. However, it landed at 9:00 a.m.

An IndiGo Airbus A321-251NX aircraft from Delhi, which departed at 5:35 a.m. and was scheduled to land in Coimbatore at 8:15 a.m., was diverted to Kochi and later flown back to Coimbatore Airport around 10 a.m.

All flights departing from Coimbatore International Airport to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi on Friday morning were delayed due to low visibility.

Coimbatore Airport Director G. Sambath Kumar stated that dense fog and poor visibility were the reasons for the disruptions. Due to the low visibility, an aircraft had to circle mid-air before landing, while several flights experienced delays and one was diverted. Normal air operations resumed once the fog cleared.