AI flight grounded after windscreen damage

A spokesperson for the Delhi International Airport Limited said: “Prima facie,it appears that a departing Jet Airways aircraft increased thrust while taxiing out,resulting in a jet blast that caused damage to the door of an Air India aircraft parked on the adjacent bay. The matter has been referred to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation which will be investigating the incident.”

A senior Air India official,however,said initial inquiry suggested that the damage was not caused by the jet blast,but by a foreign object.

“It could have been a pebble or stone on the tarmac that

hit the windshield,” the official said.

The official added that the aircraft had been grounded for a thorough inspection and only a detailed inquiry will help find the cause of damage.

Air India accommodated the 162 passengers of IC-863 in

a Hyderabad flight,which took off at 8.45 pm,after a delay of two hours and forty-five minutes.