Full emergency at Delhi airport after SpiceJet's Leh-bound flight suffers engine failure

SpiceJet

A full emergency was declared at Indira Gandhi International Airport early Tuesday after a Leh-bound SpiceJet aircraft reported an engine failure mid-air.

Flight SG-121, carrying around 150 passengers, turned back to the national capital minutes after takeoff when its number two engine malfunctioned. The crew initiated an immediate return as a precautionary measure.

Sources said the aircraft landed safely in Delhi after the engine failure prompted the emergency response. Further details from the airline and aviation authorities are awaited.

In a separate development, the Supreme Court of India has dismissed review petitions filed by the customs department seeking to levy retrospective integrated goods and services tax (IGST) on aircraft and aircraft parts reimported into India after overseas repairs. The ruling brings relief to InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet.

A bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan said that after examining the review petitions and related documents, it found no apparent error or sufficient grounds to reconsider its earlier judgment. The court accordingly dismissed the pleas.

In July, the apex court had already rejected the department's appeal, which argued that a 2021 amended notification should apply retrospectively from a 2017 exemption notification. The bench had then observed that if the 2017 notification did not include IGST, the government could not rely on a subsequent 2021 amendment to impose the tax with retrospective effect.