On early Sunday, a passenger opened an emergency exit and leaped off an Air Arabia aircraft soon after landing, disrupting the operations of the Chennai International Airport. The accident happened shortly after the Sharjah flight Flight G9 471, run by an Airbus A320, landed at approximately 3:23 am.
The passenger, who was named 29-year-old Mohamed Sherif Mohamed Najmudeen, got out of the aircraft through an emergency door when the aircraft was on a taxiway. The abrupt action caused the plane to come to a complete stop on the taxiway, and the airport authorities proceeded to close the main runway (07/25) at the moment at around 3:25 am as a safety measure.
Security officers soon caught and arrested the passenger after being notified by airline employees. He was then handed over to the local police where he could be further investigated. The officials are now investigating the motive behind the incident and determining whether there were any lapses in onboard security processes.
The sudden interruption was an impact on the airport operations. The aircraft in question was towed off almost 1 hour later, and the operation in the runway was restored around 4:35 am. There were a number of postponed flights and some of the operations were transferred to the secondary runway (12/30).
Interestingly, a British Airways flight between London had to be diverted to Bengaluru, with several other flights to destinations such as Doha, Ahmedabad and Dubai delayed by up to 40 minutes.
The accident has also brought about new issues on the safety of passengers and emergency provisions at one of the busiest aviation ports in India.