VietJet Air A320 Suffers Mid-Flight Engine Failure Near Chennai
By The Aviation Hub
3 min read
A VietJet Air Airbus A320 diverted to Chennai on Tuesday 22 September 2026 after suffering an engine failure while cruising over the Bay of Bengal.
The aircraft landed safely at Chennai International Airport and taxied to its stand under its own power.
Engine Failure at FL340
Flight VJ1875 was operating a scheduled service from Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to Colombo (CMB) in Sri Lanka.
According to Flightradar24 data, the flight was scheduled to depart at 11:15 UTC but left Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 12:53 UTC, running more than an hour and a half behind schedule.
The aircraft was cruising at FL340, roughly 34,000 feet, when one of its two engines failed over the Bay of Bengal.
The crew responded by diverting towards the Indian mainland rather than continuing across open water to Colombo.
Safe Landing in Chennai
Chennai offered the crew the most suitable option.
The airport sits on the eastern coast of India, directly beside the Bay of Bengal, and has long runways, full emergency services and the engineering support needed for a stricken airliner.
The A320 touched down at 22:27 local time, according to the Times of India.
The aircraft then taxied under its own power to parking stand 44, which suggests the crew kept full control of the aircraft throughout the approach and landing.
There are no reports of injuries among the passengers or crew.
Why Diverting Was the Right Call
The Airbus A320 is designed to fly safely on a single engine.
Losing an engine in cruise is a serious event, but it is one that pilots train for repeatedly in the simulator.
Standard procedure calls for the crew to secure the failed engine, descend to a lower altitude that the remaining engine can sustain, and land at the nearest suitable airport.
That is exactly what happened here.
Chennai was the logical choice, and the crew brought the aircraft down without further drama.
The Aircraft: VN-A655
The aircraft involved is VN-A655, an Airbus A320-214 with sharklets, carrying manufacturer serial number 6498.
It first flew on 23 February 2015 from the Airbus production line in Toulouse under the test registration F-WWIP.
VietJet Air took delivery of the jet on 11 March 2015, and it was ferried from Toulouse to Ho Chi Minh City via Abu Dhabi over 11 and 12 March.
The aircraft is leased from Aviation Capital Group (ACG) and flies in a single class layout with 180 economy seats.
At 11.6 years old, VN-A655 is powered by two CFM International CFM56-5B4/3 engines.
The CFM56 family is one of the most widely used jet engines in commercial aviation, and failures in cruise remain rare.
Aircraft Remains Parked in Chennai
Aviation databases now list VN-A655 as parked at Chennai following the incident.
The aircraft will need a full inspection of the failed engine before it can return to service, and an engine change is a strong possibility depending on what engineers find.
VietJet Air is expected to arrange onward travel to Colombo for affected passengers.
The airline has not yet released a statement on the cause of the engine failure.
What Happens Next
Indian authorities are likely to take an interest in the event because the diversion ended on their territory. Investigators will want to establish whether the failure was mechanical, the result of an ingestion event or linked to maintenance history.
The Aviation Hub will update this story as more information about the Chennai diversion becomes available. For more incident coverage, visit our Emergency and Accident Hub.
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