An IndiGo aircraft, 6E 6017, bound to travel from Bengaluru to Chennai, was evacuated minutes before takeoff on Tuesday after smoke was detected. All passengers on the Chennai-bound flight were reported to be safe.
In a statement, an IndiGo spokesperson said that “no injuries have been reported in the incident and that all passengers and crew members were safe and had been shifted back to terminal”.
"On 26 May 2026, while IndiGo flight 6E 6017 from Bengaluru to Chennai was taxing out to runway for departure, smoke was noticed in the aircraft. In the interest of safety, an immediate evacuation was carried out and all the relevant authorities were informed. All customers and crew are safe and have been moved to the terminal, where they are being attended to by our teams to ensure their well-being. An alternate aircraft has been arranged to operate the flight which will depart shortly and refreshments are being served to the customers to ease their wait time. At IndiGo, the safety of our customers and crew remains our top priority," the IndiGo spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, last week, an IndiGo flight operating from Delhi to Shirdi was diverted to Navi Mumbai after bad weather conditions at the destination airport prevented a safe landing, officials said.
The flight, which was scheduled to land at Shirdi Airport on Friday, was forced to divert as adverse weather conditions persisted in the region, disrupting normal flight operations.
According to officials, the aircraft was rerouted to Navi Mumbai as a precautionary measure to ensure passenger safety.
DGCA asks airlines to follow health preparedness SOPs
In a separate incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued directives to airlines following the World Health Organisation’s declaration of the Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
In an order dated 22 May, the DGCA said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) had issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) for health preparedness in light of the outbreak. The order further stated that countries bordering the DRC and Uganda, including South Sudan, “have been assessed as being at a high risk of disease transmission".
