New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): Three Air India narrowbody aircraft parked at Terminal 2 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport sustained structural damage on Sunday after being struck by loose ground support equipment during an abrupt bout of severe weather. The airport operator confirmed that a sudden onset of strong winds and heavy rain displaced heavy ground machinery from its stationary positions, causing it to roll into the parked planes.
Following the high-impact collisions, all three aircraft were immediately grounded and pulled from scheduled operations to undergo detailed safety inspections and structural assessments. According to the terminal operator, the involved ground service gear belonged to both Air India Engineering and IndiGo. The severe wind gusts overrode standard positioning protocols, turning the tarmac equipment into drifting hazards.
The private airport operator revealed that Air Traffic Control had issued no advance warnings or meteorological alerts regarding the severe and rapid shift in weather conditions to either the ground teams or the operating airlines. While Air India officially declined to comment on the operational disruption, internal airline sources indicated that planes from other operators were also impacted by the hostile weather. Technical teams expect two of the damaged Air India aircraft to return to active service shortly, while the third will require extensive repairs before receiving flight clearance.
