Stray dog on Goa airport runway forces Vistara flight to return to Bengaluru

A Vistara flight, UK 881, bound for the Dabolim Airport in Goa had to return to Bengaluru after an Air Traffic Controller spotted a stray dog on the runway, leading the pilot to choose a return to Bengaluru rather than holding for some time, as advised. The incident occurred on Monday afternoon, causing a delay in the flight's schedule.

Goa airport's director, SVT Dhanamjaya Rao, mentioned that while instances of a stray dog entering the runway happen occasionally, this is the first such incident during his tenure of the last one-and-a-half years. The Dabolim Airport in Goa is situated within the Navy's INS Hansa base.

The Vistara flight, which departed from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru at 12:55 pm on Monday, returned at 3:05 pm. Afterward, the flight took off again from Bengaluru at 4:55 pm and finally landed in Goa at 6:15 pm, according to official sources. Vistara, in a social media post, cited runway restrictions at Goa Airport as the reason for the diversion and provided updates on the flight's progress.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DiversionUpdate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DiversionUpdate</a>: Flight UK881 from Bengaluru to Goa (BLR-GOI) has been diverted to Bengaluru (BLR) due to runway restriction at Goa (GOI) airport and is expected to arrive in Bengaluru at 1505hrs. Please stay tuned for further updates.</p>&mdash; Vistara (@airvistara) <a href="https://twitter.com/airvistara/status/1723994849572258198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>