Bird-hit delays Muscat flight

Thiruvananthapuram: A Muscat bound flight of Oman Air, scheduled to leave Trivandrum International Airport at 8.45am on Thursday and reach Muscat International Airport at 11.05am the same day, was delayed for more than 18 hours. The aircraft WY 212 TRV-MCT endured bird attack while landing here. As many as 113 passengers were stranded due to the delay.
An owl weighing around 2kg hit the aircraft engine while landing at Thiruvananthapuram. The blades of the engine got damaged in the impact. After the bird hit, the aircraft had to be towed away from the runway and the engine had to be replaced.
"The bird hit had badly damaged the engine and its replacement took time. We had to bring a spare engine for the replacement, which took time. We had arranged food and accommodation for the passengers for the time," said an official from Oman Air.
On the information that the flight was ready to take off, passengers arrived at the airport at 7.30pm on Thursday. But when it was informed that the flight will be delayed further, they created ruckus at the airport. Later, the flight took off at 1.12am on Friday after the competition of maintenance work. The airline apologized through social media for the delay and inconvenience caused to passengers.