An Air India Express flight carrying 64 passengers hit an electric pole while landing at Vijayawada International Airport in Gannavaram on Saturday. All passengers on board the flight and the crew are safe, according to an official statement. The flight took off from Doha, Qatar at 10.25 am and landed at Vijayawada airport at 4.50 pm. An investigation into the incident has been orderned by the airline authorities.“An Air India flight coming from Doha met with a minor accident at Vijayawada International Airport in Gannavaram today. All passengers are safe. When the flight was about to land, its wing hit a light pole. The light pole broke and fell down. The flight wing is slightly damaged. This incident happened at 16.54 IST,” airport director G Madhusudan Rao told ANI.
"AI Express flight IX-1676 that arrived from Doha at Vijayawada airport at 16.50 hrs, today, while flight was proceeding from runway to Bay No. 5 the captain followed leading margin (yellow) line instead of central yellow line. As a result the flight's right wing hit the high mask lights pole and the pole fell down. The flight's right wing got minor damage. Passengers and crew all are safe. Air India staff and technical personnel are attending," sources said. A passenger said that he felt a jerk during landing but nothing major happened as the pilot was alert.The incident comes a day after Sharjah-Kozhikode flight with 112 passengers made an emergency landing at the international airport after developing a glitch.