A power bank stored in an overhead bin ignited at 35,000 feet on an IndiGo Airbus A321, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing pilots to divert the Delhi-Chennai service to Hyderabad.
The IndiGo power bank fire flight forced an unscheduled diversion that put more than 180 passengers and an unplanned narrow-body ground handling operation at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport with almost no notice. A power bank in an overhead storage bin caught fire mid-air, and the aircraft landed safely with no injuries reported, according to The New Indian Express.
Flight 6E 6115, an Airbus A321 registered VT-NOE, was flying from New Delhi to Chennai on 11 October 2026 when the crew decided to divert after the device caught fire, according to The Aviation Herald, which reported the aircraft was enroute at FL350 about 80 nautical miles north of Hyderabad at the time. The New Indian Express reported the flight departed Terminal 1 of Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1.30pm and was scheduled to reach Chennai at 4pm, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware, but instead landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 3.59pm. The Aviation Herald reported the aircraft landed on runway 09R about 19 minutes after the diversion decision and taxied to the apron without further incident, and was still on the ground in Hyderabad roughly 26 hours later.
Why it matters to the reader
For an airport operations director, this is not a passenger drama, it is an unplanned narrow-body arrival with no slot, no stand allocation and no ground handling plan. IndiGo said in a statement reported by The New Indian Express that the flight “was diverted to Hyderabad after smoke was detected from a customer’s personal electronic device” and that “the cabin crew responded promptly and the situation was brought under control” before the pilots diverted “in line with established protocols.” That diversion lands the operational cost on Hyderabad, not Delhi or Chennai, a pattern familiar from other recent diversions such as the Emirates A380 diversion to Frankfurt after an in-flight medical emergency and the BA295 return to Heathrow after a 28,000ft altitude drop.
What it means in practice
IndiGo said it arranged an alternative aircraft to complete the journey to Chennai and apologised for “the inconvenience caused to our customers due to this unforeseen situation,” adding it was “offering refreshments and sharing timely updates,” according to the statement reported by The New Indian Express. That means a diversion airport needs spare gate capacity, a ground handler able to stand up catering and rebooking support at short notice, and customs or security clearance for passengers who were never meant to land there. Lithium-ion power banks are prohibited in checked baggage and permitted only in cabin baggage because the cells can overheat and catch fire, The New Indian Express reports, and it notes that using a power bank to charge a device in flight was also prohibited from late 2025 following earlier incidents. The outlet also reported two prior IndiGo power bank incidents: a fire on flight 6E 108, carrying 204 people, after arrival in Chandigarh from Hyderabad on 5 May 2026, which triggered an emergency evacuation and left five people injured, and a fire on flight 6E 2107 from Delhi to Dimapur on 19 October 2025 that forced the aircraft to return to its parking bay while still taxiing.
What to do now
Airports on any carrier’s divert list should treat this as a checklist item, not an abstraction. Confirm cabin crew fire-response drills match extinguisher procedures for lithium battery fires in overhead stowage, since the Aviation Herald reports cabin crew used portable extinguishers to control and secure the device in this case. Review standing arrangements with ground handlers for exactly this scenario, the kind of licence and capacity expansion seen in Menzies Aviation’s recent passenger handling win at Kuala Lumpur is the type of capacity that gets tested on a diversion day. And revisit passenger-facing messaging on power bank rules at the gate, since both prior IndiGo incidents cited by The New Indian Express involved devices stowed in the cabin rather than checked in.
What caused the IndiGo power bank fire on flight 6E 6115?
A passenger’s power bank stored in an overhead storage bin caught fire mid-flight, according to The New Indian Express and The Aviation Herald.
Where did the IndiGo flight divert to?
The aircraft diverted to Hyderabad and landed at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, according to The New Indian Express.
Were there injuries in the IndiGo power bank fire?
No passengers were injured, The New Indian Express reported, and the aircraft landed safely before an alternative aircraft was arranged to continue to Chennai.
The takeaway: the IndiGo power bank fire flight cost Hyderabad an unplanned narrow-body arrival and a scramble on ground handling, and any airport on a carrier’s divert map should already know who picks up that call.
