From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: A Dubai-bound flight from New Delhi made an emergency landing at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Tuesday, according to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Saifur Rehman.
The official confirmed that the airplane, a Boeing 737, had reported an oil leak and repairs were under way.
The passengers aboard, nearly 100, have been safely moved to the transit lounge.
SpiceJet confirmed the development on its Twitter handle, but said there was no emergency declared as the landing was normal.
CAA spokesman, Rehman – while commentating on SpiceJet’s tweet about the landing being normal – said if the plane landed in Karachi — which is not its destination — then it will be called an emergency landing. He said the pilot contacted the control tower here and requested the landing.
According to details, SpiceJet flight B737 had taken off from Delhi but was diverted to Karachi midway due to an “indicator light malfunctioning”.
“The aircraft landed safely at [sic] Karachi and passengers were safely disembarked. No emergency was declared and the aircraft made a normal landing. There was no earlier report of any malfunction with the aircraft,” the report quoted the airline as saying in a statement.
It assured that an alternative aircraft had been sent to Karachi which would take the passengers to Dubai.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General Of Civil Aviation was quoted as saying that the pilots had observed an unusual reduction in fuel quantity and suspected a leak. However, no evidence of the fuel leak was found after the aircraft landed.
Separately, the CAA spokesman said “all flight operations at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, are normal”.
