An Air India flight
from New Delhi to Newark was forced to return to the airport after being airborne for 30
minutes due to the presence of a bat onboard. The flight had left Delhi’s
Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2:20 am on Thursday as scheduled. The flight’s captain
reported the presence of the animal to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and decided
to take the plane back to Delhi.

According to the Air
India officials, flight AI-105 returned back to Delhi after the cabin crew spotted
the animal inside the cabin. The plane landed safely around 3:55 am and was
declared Aircraft on grounded (AoG). The wildlife staff were called to remove
the bat from the cabin. The Directorate
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials said that the aircraft was
fumigated and bat carcass was retrieved from the aircraft.

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“Air India
B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI – 105 (Delhi- Newark) was
involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by cabin crew after
departure. Fuel was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After
landing fumigation was carried out and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from
seat 8DEF area,” a senior DGCA official told ANI.

The official said
that the bat was found dead inside the business class area of the flight. The
airline’s safety department was given a report of the incident for a detailed
investigation. The initial report submitted by the Air India engineering team stated
that the unwanted mammals came from third parties.

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An Air India
official said that the entry of animals such as bats and rats may be the loading
vehicles. The passengers were shifted to another plane and the flight landed at
11:35 local time in Newark.