Air India aircraft’s auxiliary power unit catches fire after plane lands at Delhi airport

The incident took place after passengers had started disembarking from the flight. The aircraft suffered some damage and has been grounded as an investigation is underway into the cause of the localised fire. The airline has also notified aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the incident.

The APU is a small gas turbine engine, or a self-contained generator, located at the rear or the tail of the aircraft. The unit is a source of power independent of the plane’s main engines, and provides supplementary power while the aircraft is on the ground and during some phases of flight.

“The incident occurred while passengers had begun disembarking, and the APU was automatically shut down as per system design. There was some damage to the aircraft; however, passengers and crew members disembarked normally and are safe. The aircraft has been grounded for further investigations and the regulator has been duly notified,” the spokesperson added.

This comes a day after an Air India flight headed to Kolkata from Delhi was rescheduled due to a technical issue detected by the cockpit crew, and an Air India Kochi-Mumbai flight veered off the runway after touchdown at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport amid heavy rain.

Incidents like these, while not rare, are currently drawing significant public attention in the aftermath of the tragic crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 12, in which 260 persons died.

The reason for the APU fire Tuesday was not immediately clear. The aircraft involved is two-year-old Airbus A321neo LR (long range) narrow-body jet bearing registration VT-TVG. The plane was earlier operated by Vistara, and was integrated into the Air India fleet upon Vistara’s merger with the Tata group’s flagship carrier last year.

According to flight tracking data, the aircraft departed from Hong Kong at 9:23 am (Hong Kong time) and landed at the Delhi airport at 12:12 pm India time.

There has been a slew of disruptions to flight operations in the aftermath of the Air India crash in Ahmedabad in June, with airlines cancelling, rescheduling, and diverting flights with more frequency.

In June, an Air India flight headed to Delhi had to return to Hong Kong because of a technical issue. The flight, AI315, was a Boeing 788.

On the same day, an Air India Express flight bound for Ranchi returned to Delhi airport owing to a suspected technical issue.

On June 13, an Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi returned to Phuket and made a precautionary landing after receiving a bomb threat.