An IndiGo Surat-Kolkata flight, with 172 on board, was diverted to Bhopal airport after it developed a technical glitch. The flight landed safely, the airport director said.

An IndiGo flight from Surat to Kolkata with 172 passengers on board was diverted to Bhopal airport after developing a technical glitch on Sunday morning. In a statement, the Bhopal airport director said the IndiGo flight was diverted to Bhopal due to technical reasons.

The flight landed safely at the Bhopal airport, the director said.

"An IndiGo flight, which was going from Surat to Kolkata, was diverted to Bhopal & made an emergency landing due to technical reason today. The flight landed safely at the airport with 172 passengers onboard," the Bhopal airport director said.

Later in the day, IndiGo issued a statement saying, "IndiGo flight 6E357 operating from Surat to Calcutta diverted to Bhopal as a precaution. During the flight, the pilot felt a momentary foul odour. As a matter of caution, the aircraft was landed at Bhopal. The passengers are being accommodated on another aircraft. The aircraft is currently under inspection at Bhopal. We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers."

A few days ago, a SpiceJet plane from Odisha with over 50 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Kolkata airport on Monday evening following a “cabin pressure” issue, airport officials said.

The airline said the aircraft, which had taken off from Jharsuguda airport in Odisha, landed safely, and no passenger or crew discomfort was reported.

Confirming the incident, SpiceJet said, "While passing FL220 (meaning an altitude of 22,000 feet), the cabin pressure warning came on. As a precautionary measure, the crew requested emergency descent to ATC (air traffic control) and the same was approved."

(With inputs from Nagarjuna Dwarkanath)

Editor's note: The flight in question was Kolkata-bound and not heading to Bengaluru as mentioned earlier. Changes have been made in the report to reflect the same.