New Delhi, June 8: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday that it is investigating the matter in which three aircraft of Air India parked at Delhi airport were damaged due to adverse weather conditions on Sunday. The civil aviation regulator said the planes have been grounded for inspection and maintenance.
“On 7th June 2026, three Air India A320 aircraft parked at the Delhi Airport Terminal II were damaged by ground equipment and foreign object debris during adverse weather conditions around 16:30 IST,” the DGCA statement said. Due to strong winds, two pieces of ground equipment positioned at adjacent stands and in nearby areas moved from their locations and hit two different aircraft at various positions, causing damage.
In addition, the right-hand sliding window of another aircraft sustained damage due to the impact of foreign object debris, the statement added. According to Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), the incident — which took place on Sunday at Terminal 2 after strong winds accompanied by heavy rainfall — caused ground handling equipment positioned near parked aircraft to shift from its location and collide with three Air India narrow-body aircraft.
Following the incident, all three aircraft were withdrawn from service to undergo detailed inspections and repairs. In addition, DIAL said the displaced equipment belonged to Air India Engineering Services and IndiGo’s ground handling operations. Weather conditions deteriorated rapidly and unexpectedly, and neither the airport operator nor airlines had received any advance warning regarding the sudden weather change from Air Traffic Control (ATC), according to airport officials. Reports claim that an aircraft belonging to other operators was also affected because of the severe weather conditions.
Meanwhile, two of the three affected Air India aircraft are expected to return to operations soon, while repairs on the third aircraft may take longer. The incident comes amid increasing operational challenges posed by sudden weather disruptions, particularly during periods of intense rainfall and strong winds.
Delhi-NCR has witnessed a sudden change in weather as rainfall lashed several parts of the region. During the day, visuals from areas around the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport showed rain sweeping across multiple localities near the airport. In addition, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast another spell of very light to light rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and gusty winds reaching up to 60 km per hour on June 11 and 12.
IANS
