Airline Explains "Mechanical Issue"
Aircraft Model Different from Boeing Plane That Crashed in India
Following the recent Air India passenger plane crash in India that claimed the lives of more than 270 people, another incident has occurred in China, where a Boeing passenger plane manufactured by the same company made an emergency return due to a mechanical failure.
Flight path of the China Okay Airlines Boeing passenger plane that made an emergency return about 30 minutes after takeoff. Photo by Yonhap News
According to Chinese media outlets such as Gaimyeon News on the 16th, Okay Airways flight BK2931 returned to Changsha Huanghua Airport in Hunan Province about 30 minutes after takeoff on June 15.
The flight was originally scheduled to depart Huanghua Airport at 1:00 p.m. and arrive in Wuchuan, Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province at 2:55 p.m. on the same day. However, the actual departure was delayed by nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes, and the plane eventually took off at 2:27 p.m. After circling in a heart-shaped pattern, it returned to Huanghua Airport at 2:58 p.m.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-9KF (narrow-body aircraft) with an age of 7 years and 9 months. Okay Airways explained that the incident was due to a mechanical failure, but stated that the specific cause remains unknown. Some netizens have claimed that there was a malfunction in one of the engines.
Due to the emergency return, some passengers traveled to Wuchuan on an additional flight provided at 7:00 p.m. on the same day, while the remaining passengers abandoned their journey and were provided with meals and accommodation by the airline.
Okay Airways, China's first private airline, was established in Beijing in 2005 and currently operates more than 100 domestic and international routes, with bases in four cities: Tianjin, Changsha, Xi'an, and Nanning. The airline is known to operate a fleet of 22 aircraft, mainly consisting of the Boeing 737NG series.
Previously, on June 12, in India, Air India flight AI171, which departed from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat for London, crashed just 30 seconds after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of at least 274 people, including passengers and residents on the ground.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the company's latest medium- to long-haul model. This was the first crash since the model's maiden test flight in 2009. The aircraft is a global bestseller and is currently operated by more than 70 airlines worldwide. Experts are investigating the cause of the accident, focusing on whether there was a simultaneous failure of both engines or a problem with the lift device settings, given that the plane crashed immediately after takeoff.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
