Flight returns to Hyd airport due to technical snag

A Tirupati-bound Air Costa plane, with 111 passengers and crew on board, had to return to the airport here following a snag in its engine that developed a few minutes after take-off, an airline official said. The flight had taken off from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here at 2.45 pm and was supposed to land in Tirupati at 3.45 pm. "The pilot of the aircraft (flight LB671 Hyderabad- Tirupati) noticed technical glitch in the air and returned the flight to Hyderabad as he felt that the runway in Tirupati is not long enough for landing under the emergency circumstance," a senior official of the regional carrier said. There were 111 passengers and crew on board. After landing in Hyderabad, our engineering team examined the flight and fixed the problem, the official said, adding that within 15 minutes the plane again took off for Tirupati.