Afghan Airlines Wrong-Runway Landing At Delhi Airport Triggers AAIB Push For ATC Video Recording

Last Updated:January 10, 2026, 13:26 IST

The recommendation follows a near-miss incident on November 23, when an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight from Kabul landed on a runway designated for departures at IGI Airport.

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India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) recommended the urgent installation of video and background audio recording systems in air traffic control (ATC) towers at all international airports, following a serious runway safety incident at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport last November.

In an interim safety recommendation issued in its preliminary report, the AAIB said ATC units should be equipped with devices capable of recording controllers’ actions and communications while performing tower duties.

The bureau said such systems should be implemented on a priority basis at international airports and that the recordings must be used solely for investigation purposes by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the AAIB.

The recommendation follows a near-miss incident on November 23, when an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight from Kabul landed on a runway designated for departures at IGI Airport.

The aircraft touched down on runway 29R, despite being cleared to land on runway 29L, which is reserved for arrivals.

At the same time, an Air India flight was departing from runway 29R, creating what investigators described as conditions ripe for a major accident.

The AAIB report said the Airbus A310 crew appeared to have been confused between the two parallel runways amid low visibility.

Runways 29L/11R and 29R/11L at Delhi are separated by only 360 metres and do not meet the criteria for independent parallel operations. As a result, they are operated in a “segregated dependent mode," with one runway used exclusively for landings and the other for takeoffs.

According to the report, air traffic control had correctly instructed Ariana Afghan Airlines flight AFG311 to continue its approach to runway 29L, and the instruction was read back accurately by the crew.

At two nautical miles from touchdown, ATC again cleared the aircraft to land on runway 29L. However, the aircraft landed on runway 29R at 12.06 pm, even as Air India flight AI 2243 was taking off from the same runway.

The bureau flagged another serious concern, noting that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data from the aircraft could not be retrieved at Delhi.

The aircraft was allowed to operate its next scheduled flight back to Kabul the same afternoon, resulting in the CVR data being overwritten. While the aircraft’s digital flight data recorder (DFDR) was recovered and is under analysis, the loss of CVR data has limited insight into cockpit decision-making during the incident.

Crew statements from both the arriving Ariana Afghan flight and the departing Air India aircraft have been recorded as part of the investigation.

The AAIB said the proposed ATC recording systems would help investigators analyse controller actions after incidents or accidents, addressing a key gap highlighted by the IGI runway incident.

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