Turkish Airlines Plane Departs BIA After Dramatic Emergency Landing

COLOMBO (News 1st): The Turkish Airlines aircraft that made a safe emergency landing at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, last night, departed the island this evening, after concluding it's repairs. 

The Turkish Airlines aircraft, bearing flight number TK-733, made a safe emergency landing at the BIA, due to a technical malfunction that was detected on board.

Shortly after departing Katunayake, the Airbus A330-300 aircraft experienced a malfunction when its landing gear failed to retract properly, prompting the need for an emergency landing.

As the aircraft was flying to Istanbul, a long-haul journey of over eight and a half hours, it was carrying a large fuel load, making an immediate landing highly risky.

Certain Airbus A330-300 aircraft do not have the capability to jettison fuel in an emergency.

Therefore, the pilots initiated a standard safety procedure—circling in controlled airspace to burn excess fuel and reduce the aircraft’s weight to a safe level for landing.

All necessary preparations for an emergency landing had been completed at the BIA by that time.

At 12:30 AM, the pilots successfully executed a safe landing, bringing the aircraft to a complete stop at the designated point on the runway.

Thanks to the precautionary measures taken by the pilots, all 222 passengers and crew were unharmed in the incident.