‘Saved By Skill And Luck’ Air India Flight With Congress MP KC Venugopal Faces Mid-Air Scare, Diverted To Chennai

What was supposed to be a normal Sunday night flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi became a high-tension, hours-long experience for hundreds of passengers including Congress MP KC Venugopal, on Air India’s AI 2455.

The Congress leader termed the experience as “frighteningly close to tragedy,” recounting how the plane, already delayed in departure, was struck by “unprecedented turbulence” soon after take-off. “For almost two hours, we were circling over Chennai waiting to be given clearance to land. On our initial attempt, there was a hair-raising moment when the Captain made an abrupt lift off. That split-second decision saved every single life on board,” Venugopal posted on X.

However Air India presented a different version, explaining that the go-around was ordered by Chennai Air Traffic Control because of weather conditions, not because of some other aircraft on the runway, as Venugopal had said. The airline explained the diversion as a precautionary action in view of a suspected technical malfunction and adverse weather, and added that its crew “followed standard safety procedures throughout the flight.”

As per flight tracking records, AI 2455 left Thiruvananthapuram at 8:17 pm, arrived in Chennai at 10:35 pm, and finally arrived at Delhi at 3:58 am after taking off from Chennai at 1:40 am.

The incident is against the backdrop of increased scrutiny of Air India’s safety record. A crash in June killed 260 people, and last week, passengers on a San Francisco–Mumbai flight complained of finding cockroaches within the aircraft. Although the airline apologized, it dismissed the incident, stating that insects manage to get into planes when in ground operation despite routine fumigation.

Venugopal, who was travelling with a group of other Members of Parliament, subsequently roped in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, calling for a full-scale investigation and enhanced safety protocols. “Passenger safety cannot be based on chance,” he said.

For all those on AI 2455, the night made clear how quickly a routine flight can turn into a test of cool- and how much faith passengers have in pilots’ ability when seconds count the most.

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