The IT 801 flight took off this morning from New Shamshabad airport at 0635 hrs and after the plane was in the air the commander of the aircraft got a smoke alert and immediately returned to the airport, an airline spokesperson said.

The aircraft touched down safely and on investigation it was found that one of the cargo consignments which had been cleared by security screening staff contained a powder which would not otherwise have been accepted and cleared for carriage by Kingerfisher Airlines' security screening staff, the spokesperson said.

As a standard practice, Kingfisher Airlines screens all its cargo consignments on its own to ensure adherence to the highest standards of safety. However, at Hyderabad's own airport, the security screening is conducted by GMR", she added.