Narrow escape for 70 passengers as Alliance Air flight overshoots at Shirdi airport

As many as 70 passengers on board an Alliance Air flight had a narrow escape after the ATR aircraft carrying them from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport today.

All the passengers are safe and there is no damage to aircraft too, an Air India official said. Alliance Air is the regional arm of the national carrier Air India.

"At round 5.29pm, the Alliance Air flight arriving from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport," the official said.

There were 70 passengers on board the ATR aircraft," he said adding, "airline will probe the causes of the incident."

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will also investigate the incident of the aircraft overshooting the runway separately, he added.

In May 2010, 152 people were killed when the pilot of the Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway during landing at Mangaluru.

Constructed at an investment of around Rs 350 crore, Shirdi airport was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on October 1 last year.

With a 2,500 meter-long runway, the temple-town airport is capable of handling single narrow-body aircraft, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s.