Air India plane veers off runway at major airport

An Air India aircraft veered off the runway after touchdown at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The incident happened yesterday, Monday, July 21, amid heavy rainfall when the Airbus A320neo skidded onto an unpaved area. The aircraft has now been grounded for checks at the airport.

Minor damages have been reported to Mumbai airport's primary runway, which has resulted in the second runway being activated, enabling planes to continue taking off. The IndianExpress has also reported minor damage to the aircraft, yet it was able to proceed to the gates where the crew and passengers disembarked safely. The Mumbai airport has two runways which intersect, meaning only one can operate at a time - this makes it one of the world's busiest single-runway operation airports.

An Air India spokesperson said: "Flight AI2744, operating from Kochi to Mumbai on 21 July 2025, experienced heavy rain during landing, resulting in a runway excursion after touchdown. The aircraft taxied safely to the gate and all passengers and crew members have since disembarked. The aircraft has been grounded for checks. The safety of passengers and crew remain our top priority."

The aircraft left Kochi at 7:34am local time, and landed in Mumbai at 9:27am. The area where it landed had been subject to continuous rain over the past few days - the suburbs reportedly received 115mm of rain in a short period of time.

An orange alert for the city and surrounding towns has now been issued for moderate to heavy rain this week.

The airport in a statement said, "An incoming aircraft from Kochi experienced a runway excursion at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mumbai at 09.27 hours on 21 July 2025. CSMIA's emergency response teams were immediately activated to manage the runway excursion.

"All passengers and crew are safe. There are minor damages reported to the airport's primary runway-09/27. In order to ensure continuity of operations, the Secondary Runway 14/32-has been activated. At CSMIA, safety always remains our highest priority".

The incident follows a major Air India plane crash earlier this year which killed 260 people. Flight AI171 en route to Gatwick Airport, plummeted to the ground, taking the lives of all but one passenger onboard and several on the ground. The plane smashed into a doctors' accommodation at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.