The Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) Boeing 747-168B, registration HZ-AIH, was flying the first leg of a scheduled international Delhi–Dhahran–Jeddah passenger service as Flight SVA763 with 312 people on board; the Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD, registration UN-76435, was on a charter service from Chimkent Airport to Delhi as KZA1907. SVA763 departed Delhi at 18:32 local time (13:02 UTC). KZA1907 was descending simultaneously, to land at Delhi. Both flights were controlled by approach controller VK Dutta. The crew of SVA763 consisted of Captain , First Officer Nazir Khan, and Flight Engineer Ahmed Edrees. The crew of KZA1907 consisted of Captain Alexander Cherepanov, First Officer Ermek Dzhangirov, Flight Engineer Alexander Chuprov, Navigator Zhahanbek Aripbaev, and Radio Operator Egor Repp.