WB: Bagdogra bound flight returns to Kolkata airport shortly after takeoff

An Air Asia flight to Bagdogra from here with 171 passengers including West Bengal minister Arup Biswas was forced to return shortly after takeoff due to a thunderstorm on Tuesday evening, airport sources said. Flight I5536 took off at 4 pm from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport but returned around 20 minutes later, sources said.

pilot contacted ATC and was granted permission to land with standard emergency measures in place, y added.

"We were scared as plane was suddenly caught in storm... But everything went off well afterwards," Biswas said.

flight arrived in Bagdogra later in evening.