A probe has been initiated into the near-miss incident involving two Etihad and Emirates planes.
It was a near miss mishap as both planes came in close proximity to each other over Indian airspace on the intervening night on March 29-30. The incident was reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday.
Both the airlines confirmed that an investigation was underway regarding the reported incident.
Emirates flight EK 706 was heading to Dubai from Seychelles while Etihad flight EY-622 was on way to Seychelles from Abu Dhabi.
Noticing that the two aircraft were dangerously close to each other, the Mumbai ATC alerted one of the commanders by giving a Resolution Advisory (RA), the sources said.
An RA is given to the pilot if the distance reduces to the extent that the risk of collision gets to 25 seconds. This is also an instruction to climb, descend or level out. The pilot is required to comply in 6 seconds, the instruction has priority over other ATC instructions.
Emirates can confirm that flight EK 706 on March 29 from Seychelles to Dubai was involved in an Air Traffic Control incident in Mumbai airspace.
- Emirates spokesperson in a statement
The crew informed the authorities of the incident and later filed an Air Safety Report, which will be forwarded to Mumbai Air Traffic Control, the spokesperson said.
Safety is paramount to Emirates and “we will be cooperating fully with the Mumbai ATC in the subsequent investigation,” the airline added.
Due to the closure of Yemeni airspace in the wake of the on-going civil war in the region, Emirates and Etihad are operating to Seychelles using Mumbai and Muscat airspace.
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