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Air India A320 lands safely in New Delhi after in-flight altitude variation; 12 taken to hospital

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has opened an investigation into the August 4 occurrence on flight AI2379, which landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 4, 2026, 8:45 a.m. ETWritten Aug 5, 2026, 7:47 p.m. ET

More on this incident

An operating flight experienced what was described as a momentary altitude variation in flight on August 4, 2026, and landed safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport in , according to news.webindia123.com. The situation is developing and details remain incomplete. Eight passengers and four cabin crew members were admitted to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the outlet reported. One passenger told the outlet that his father, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown up and struck the aircraft roof. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu visited Fortis Hospital to see injured passengers, according to the same report. The cause has not been determined. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has initiated a detailed investigation into the occurrence, and the aircraft's Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder have been secured for detailed examination, news.webindia123.com reported. The aircraft was identified in reporting as . Aircraft registry records list as an Airbus twin-engine jet landplane registered in India. Registry entries can be out of date and describe only the airframe; they say nothing about what happened on this flight.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
VT-EXO
Type
AIRBUS — twin-engine jet landplane
Terrain elevation
702 ft
Nearest aerodrome
2.0 miles N of Safdarjung Airport (VIDD)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 512 Aug 2026, 00:06current

    Added dailypioneer.com report that France's BEA and Airbus will assist the AAIB probe, removed the note that no update had been published, and added Indian registry details for VT-EXO.

  2. Version 47 Aug 2026, 13:23

    Removed the live/developing framing ("details are still developing") and replaced it with an explicit statement that the account is fixed to the available reporting and that no further information has been published since; headline and dek reworded to match. Added a closing note that no DGCA committee has been announced as of the latest reporting. Deleted an unsupported sentence about Indian aircraft registry records for VT-EXO, which is not in the fact set. Preserved both aircraft-type readings (Airbus A320neo / Airbus A320 / A320) and both injury figures (15 per siasat.com, 17 per indiablooms.com) as sourced ranges without picking one, and set out the four differing descriptions of the investigation's status with attribution. All figures, times and identifiers printed exactly as given: AI2379, VT-EXO, 300 feet, 137 passengers and eight crew, 134 passengers and 8 crew members, 11:07 hrs IST, around 11.30 am, 18:50 hrs on August 4, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

  3. Version 36 Aug 2026, 00:02

    Restructured lead around the DGCA investigation, added mexicostar.com to the attributed source lists and cited a second news.webindia123.com report.

  4. Version 25 Aug 2026, 23:57

    Added calcuttanews.net and asiabulletin.com to the A320neo attribution, plus the hospital-admission breakdown (eight passengers and four cabin crew), the 11-passenger/four-crew injury account, the Tuesday discharge time and a passenger's account of an unbelted passenger striking the cabin roof.

  5. Version 27 Aug 2026, 13:24

    Added the Phuket–Delhi routing, severe turbulence and ~300 ft altitude loss, conflicting injury (15–17) and occupant figures, hospital discharges, the DGCA summoning Air India management, and expert comment; noted the aircraft type conflict.

  6. Version 15 Aug 2026, 23:47current

    First published.

  7. Version 15 Aug 2026, 23:52

    First published.

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