BackAir India pilot suffers cardiac arrest at Delhi airport; airline mourns loss
Air India pilot Captain Himmanil Kumar died of cardiac arrest at Delhi's IGI airport. He was not on active duty and was undergoing training. This is the third recent incident of a pilot's death, with two other incidents in August
PremiumIn a tragic incident, an Air India pilot died after suffering a cardiac arrest at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport on Thursday. Air India in its statement expressed grief over the loss of life. “We are saddened at the passing of our colleague, Captain Himmanil Kumar, today. Captain Kumar was a Senior Commander, who visited our Operations office at T3 Delhi Airport as part of a routine procedure,"Air India said, ANI reported.
The airline further informed that Captain Himmanil Kumar showed sudden signs of discomfort at the office, and was immediately assisted by his colleagues. He was then rushed to the hospital in the airport premises, where he passed away.
"Captain Kumar was not on active flying duty and was undergoing conversion training to operate wide-body aircraft. The Air India team stands together in grief with Captain Kumar's family," said Air India in its statement.
This is the third such incident in recent months where a young pilot lost his life.
In August, an IndiGo pilot collapsed at a Nagpur Airport boarding gate while preparing to board a flight to Pune. Despite receiving first aid and being promptly taken to a hospital, he could not be saved.
The day before, an ex-SpiceJet captain, now with Qatar Airways, passed away while travelling as a passenger from Delhi to Doha.
In other news, The Tata Group-backed Air India will add 30 aircraft to its fleet by March as it aims to ramp up weekly flights by more than 400 over the next six months. The airline currently has a fleet of 120 aircraft.
Meanwhile, domestic air passenger traffic in the country recorded an annual growth of nearly 11% to 1.26 crore in October, according to official data released on Thursday.
"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-October 2023 were 1,254.98 lakhs as against 988.31 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering annual growth of 26.98 per cent and monthly growth of 10.78 per cent," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, PTI reported.
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