Hyderabad: A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok carrying 252 passengers on board raised an alert at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) early on Sunday morning, July 20, following a suspected bird hit during landing.
Flight TG-329 was landing at the Hyderabad airport at dawn when the pilot perceived a potential bird strike and immediately informed the Airport Operations Centre.
Ground staff and airport security were subsequently deployed to check the runway. Thankfully, no bird parts or debris were detected, and the flight landed safely without incident and injury or damage reported.
Bird threats at Hyderabad airport
Though the incident did not disrupt airport activities, it has again brought to the forefront the increasing bird and animal strike concern at Hyderabad airport.
Official figures show that Hyderabad airport has had 49 such incidents in the first half of 2025 alone. In 2024, strikes numbered 143 compared to 136 in 2023 and 92 in 2022.
Experts say increased waste around the airport and expanding urban activity have led to a rise in bird activity, particularly of kites and crows, in the airport vicinity, raising safety concerns for arriving and departing aircraft. Efforts at wildlife hazard management have intensified in recent months with increased runway patrols, habitat management, and liaison with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
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A huge percentage of such strikes, up to 76 percent, remain untraced to individual bird species, constraining longer-term preventive measures.
Flight to Phuket returns midway
The Thai Airways incident follows within days of another serious incident when an Air India Express flight to Phuket had to be flown back to Hyderabad airport minutes after departure because of a technical glitch.
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