Plane skids off TIA runway

No casualty, airport reopens

FE Team | Published: April 20, 2018 23:39:00

KATHMANDU, Apr 20 (Agencies): Nepal's only international airport reopened Friday after a passenger plane attempting to take off skidded off the runway, forcing a halt to all flights.
Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu said no one was injured when the Boeing 737 operated by Malindo Air skidded into the grassy area at the end of the runway Thursday night.
There were 139 people, including seven crew members, on board the aircraft. No casualty has been reported.
All flights were cancelled and thousands of passengers waited outside the terminal on Friday as authorities worked to pull out the plane.
It was finally towed safely to the hangar area, allowing the airport to resume flights at about midday.
Last month, US-Bangla Airlines passenger plane crashed at the airport while attempting to land, killing 49 people on board.
The Malindo Boeing 737-900, registration 9M-LNJ, was cleared for takeoff from runway.
"The flight captain aborted takeoff at the final moment after he saw an error at the monitor inside the cockpit," said Raj Kumar Chettri, general manager of TIA, quoting the captain.
The aircraft apparently could not stop because of the take-off speed and load at the final moment and overran 50m south (Koteshwor side) from the runway threshold and rested in a grassland at around 22:08 pm (local time), Chettri said.
The runway was closed following the incident. However, the aircraft has not suffered any damage but the front tyre has been stuck in the mud.
In March 2015, a Turkish Airlines aircraft also suffered a runway excursion during landing at TIA that had closed the country's sole international airport for four days creating chaos among travellers.