Mishaps add to airport's holiday load
Eight ground staff were injured when a passenger shuttle bus crashed at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday, and a Cathay Pacific jet was forced to turn back with a cracked windscreen minutes into a flight to Singapore.
The incidents occurred as the airport - whose bosses want to build a third runaway to handle increasing travellers - coped with record Lunar New Year holiday traffic.
Shortly after 4pm, a coach hit a parked bus at the entrance to the airport apron. Eight ground staff aboard the bus were injured. They were taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung. The employees, all men and aged 27 to 61, were discharged after treatment.
Shortly before the accident, a Cathay Pacific aircraft was forced to turn back a few minutes into its flight to Singapore.
The crew aboard the Airbus A330 jet. which took off shortly before 3pm, discovered a crack on the left hand side of the windscreen. The pilot decided to turn back and the plane landed at 3.16pm.
All 311 passengers aboard flight CX735 were put on another flight, which left at 4.30pm.
Cathay Pacific spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said the crack was in the outer layer of the windscreen, which has multiple layers.
'There are a total of six layers of glass on the wind shield, so the crack did not affect the security of the plane,' she said.
Although the plane returned to the airport, she said the crack did not pose any danger to the passengers or crew.
'This kind of incident seldom happens,' Leung said.
The plane is being checked but Cathay Pacific said there would not be additional checks or other security measures for its fleet.
The most common cause for such an incident was an object hitting the windscreen, Leung said.
