A SpiceJet flight from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) bound for Kozhikode with 197 passengers, including six crew, onboard had an emergency landing at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on Friday evening following hydraulic failure, an airport spokesperson said here.
An emergency was declared in the airport here at 6:29 pm after the SpiceJet-SG 036 flight, which was scheduled to land at Kozhikode airport, got diverted to Kochi, he said.
“The B737-8 MAX aircraft landed safely at 19:19 hours on the runway after an emergency landing situation," he added.
CIAL Managing Director S Suhas informed that the runway was inspected after the flight landed safely and the emergency was withdrawn subsequently.
“…the airport had fully geared up for facing the extreme emergency situation. The alerting structure was activated in full. As the aircraft landed safely, the runway was handed over for normal operations after due inspection," Suhas said in a statement.
The passengers were transferred to the terminal, airport authorities said.
In a statement, a SpiceJet spokesperson said that after take-off from Jeddah, Air Traffic Controller (ATC) informed the pilots that tyre pieces were found on the runway.
“During further flight, a caution light illuminated. The pilots decided to divert to Cochin where low passes were carried out to verify whether the landing gear lever was down and locked. Post confirmation from the ATC of landing gear extension, the aircraft safely landed at Cochin and passengers were deboarded normally," the spokesperson said.
A senior DGCA official said a detailed inspection is under progress.
SpiceJet officials informed that the passengers will travel to Kozhikode in a subsequent flight arriving from Dubai.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)