A serious ground collision between two passenger aircraft at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Thursday disrupted operations and triggered an aviation safety review, after a SpiceJet aircraft came into contact with a stationary Akasa Air plane, leaving both aircraft damaged but passengers safe.
A SpiceJet aircraft made contact with a stationary Akasa Air flight on ground at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Thursday, with both the planes suffering damage on spot. Preliminary reports indicate that all passengers onboard the Akasa flight are safe.
During the aircraft accident, SpiceJet plane’s right wing and Akasa Air’s left-hand horizontal stabiliser got damaged.
A SpiceJet B737-700 aircraft was involved in a ground occurrence while taxiing at Delhi airport, resulting in damage to its right winglet, the airline’s spokesperson said, adding that the left-hand horizontal stabiliser of another aircraft belonging to a different airline also got affected.
The SpiceJet aircraft has been grounded at Delhi Airport. Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation is yet to issue an statement on the incident.
Akasa Air’s aircraft operating flight QP 1406 from Delhi to Hyderabad had to return to the bay on April 16, 2026, a spokesperson from the airline said, adding that as per preliminary information, Akasa’s aircraft was stationary when the SpiceJet aircraft made contact with it.
“All passengers and crew were safely disembarked, and our ground teams are making alternative arrangements to fly our passengers to Hyderabad at the earliest,” the spokesperson added.
A similar incident happened on February 3 when an IndiGo aircraft made wingtip contact with an Air India plane at Mumbai airport, while both were carrying passengers. As per airlines’ spokespersons, the incident involved IndiGo flight 6E 791 from Hyderabad to Mumbai and Air India flight AI 2732, which was scheduled to operate from Mumbai to Coimbatore.
At the time of the incident, the IndiGo aircraft had landed and was taxiing, while the Air India aircraft was waiting on the taxiway prior to departure.
