PIA flight makes emergency landing right after takeoff

KARACHI: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight made an emergency landing at Karachi airport on Tuesday morning right after takeoff after the aircraft developed a technical glitch.

According to a PIA spokesperson, flight number PK 300 on-bound to Islamabad had to make an emergency landing at Karachi airport after its landing gear failed to retract.

“The aircraft made an emergency landing at Karachi airport after 25 minutes of take-off after a fault developed in its landing gear”, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson assured that the aircraft was grounded immediately for inspection, and arrangements were being made to transfer passengers to another plane.

 “The flight will resume shortly after the aircraft is replaced,” the spokesperson said.

CEO of the national carrier Khurram Mushtaq was also reportedly on this flight to Islamabad.

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Out of the 34 aircraft in PIA’s fleet, 17 are currently grounded including seven out of 12 Boeing 777s, seven out of 17 Airbus A320s, and three out of five ATR planes.

Sources reveal that the grounded planes are out of service primarily due to the unavailability of critical components such as engines, landing gears, and auxiliary power units (APUs).

Due to these operational setbacks, the national carrier is reportedly incurring losses amounting to millions of dollars. Insiders claim that several parts have been removed from the grounded planes and are being used in other planes.