China Southern Airlines jet lands at Hong Kong International Airport – only to find another plane on the runway
- China Southern Airlines flight, coming in from Zhejiang province, ends up within half a runway’s length of hitting business jet
A Boeing jet came within half a runway’s length of smashing into another plane that still hadn’t cleared the airstrip as they both arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on Tuesday night, aviation chiefs have revealed.
The city’s new Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) appeared likely to be called in to review the incident, which raised questions over whether controllers gave prompt orders to both planes and why the department only disclosed what happened a day later.
In a press release issued on Wednesday night, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Department said: “At 7.47pm last night, a China Southern Airlines airliner travelling from Zhejiang to Hong Kong landed at the north runway as per the instruction of the [air traffic controller], while the preceding business jet that had landed on the same runway had not vacated the runway completely.”
He said the business jet, arrived from the Philippines, had acknowledged the instruction of the control officer to clear the runway quickly.
“The runway is 3,800 metres long. According to the preliminary information, the two aircraft were more than 1,800 metres apart when the [second] airliner touched down,” he said.