Grounded Saudi plane leaves PM, cabinet members stranded

The incident led to a delay of eight flights, which were routed to Nawabshah.

KARACHI: Unfortunately for Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and several members of his cabinet, an emergency plane landing at Karachi’s international airport left them stranded for hours while the runway was cleared up. On Sunday morning, a chartered Saudi Arabian aircraft carrying a group of game hunters to Pakistan made an emergency landing at Jinnah International Airport after its front wheel jammed, aviation officials said; adding no one was hurt.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesperson Pervez George did not say anything about the passengers and the purpose of the flight which was originally heading for Quetta from Tabuk city in Saudi Arabia. However, another CAA official said the plane was carrying members of the Saudi royal family, who were visiting Balochistan to hunt migratory birds, including the extremely rare houbara bustard.

The McDonnell Douglas 83 jet was forced to land on its belly after a problem developed with the nose-wheel, George said.  “All 72 passengers and crew on board remained unharmed,” he added. “We had to declare an emergency and senior CAA officials were on the spot.”

According to details, the jet came to Karachi and circled over the airport twice at 10:30am. George said “When it was confirmed that the wheel was not opening up, the pilot made the emergency landing”.

It took four hours for CAA authorities to remove the damaged aircraft from the runway.  “Prime Minister Gilani and a few close aides had to wait until the runway was cleared up,” said an official.

Airport’s limited capacity

As a result of the grounded plane, around eight international and domestic flights were delayed. The accident also highlighted the limited capacity of Karachi to handle air-traffic. There are only two runways at the Jinnah International Airport, which also supplement VIP movement from the old airport.

CAA Director General Khalid Chaudhry said that one runway was now damaged. “We have hired a consultant. I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to all the passengers. But there is nothing much we can do until one of the two runways that is used by ATR aircraft gets fixed.”

The Saudi jet was registered in Egypt and chartered for the trip, he added. “Our investigators will look into the cause of the accident.”

Redirected flights

Confusion at the Karachi airport aside, four flights including two of foreign airlines were redirected to Nawabshah airport after the charted plane grounding.

A Karachi-bound Saudi Airlines flight from Riyadh, as well as another airline’s flight from Zurich, in addition to Pakistan International Airlines and Airblue flights from Multan all remained grounded in Nawabshah for five hours.

Nawabshah Airport Manager Aashique Hussain Zardari said the CAA took care of the passengers and provided them with free meals.

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY Z ALI IN HYDERABAD

Published in The Express Tribune, December 26^th, 2011.