450 flights delayed after Hong Kong airport runway closed for 8 hours over cargo jet emergency

One of two operating runways at Hong Kong airport was closed for more than eight hours on Monday after a cargo plane burst a tyre during an emergency landing, resulting in delays to about 450 flights and sparking questions over clearance procedures. The Airport Authority said on Monday evening that of 932 flights operating from 7am to midnight, an estimated 450 were delayed because of the incident on the north runway. Only Hong Kong International Airport’s south runway was operating during the emergency. One runway closed for modification works in 2022 and will reopen this year. The authority said it had told Atlas Air, operator of cargo flight 5Y4304, to submit a report to it and the Civil Aviation Department as required under regulations, noting that failure of the aircraft’s hydraulic system resulted in a lengthy maintenance operation. “As the hydraulic system of the freighter had broken down, the handling of the emergency took longer than expected,” an authority spokesman said. The authority reopened the north runway at 3.45pm. In light of the delays, the authority said the airport’s automated people mover system and customer service counters would extend their operating hours to help travellers. Cleaning contractors and baggage trolley operators would increase staff numbers, while airlines would also assign more employees to offer help to travellers, it said. The authority added that it had contacted various public transport operators to boost services between the airport and the city. The MTR’s Airport Express rail link would increase its service frequency after midnight. Franchised bus firms Citybus and Long Win Bus also enhanced their airport services. It said it expected delayed flights would have eased in the early hours on Tuesday. The north runway, the airport’s newest, has been in operation since 2022. It is part of the airport’s three-runway expansion project that started in 2016. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung stressed that the authority and the department, which regulates air transport, had taken safety as their prime concern and strived to handle the emergency and minimise the effects on airport operations. “When the three-runway system is in full operation, I believe it will further enhance Hong Kong International Airport’s capability in responding to contingencies,” he said in a Facebook post. None of the five crew members on the Boeing 747 freighter were injured, the authority said. The department said it would follow up on the incident with relevant foreign aviation authorities, adding the aircraft reported to its air traffic control centre that its “tyres and hydraulic system had problems” and had to return to Hong Kong airport. The authority, which operates the airport, said the cargo flight bound for Anchorage, Alaska, in the United States requested an emergency return at around 6am, about two hours after it left Hong Kong. A tyre burst when the aircraft landed at 7.12am. The airport dispatched staff to handle the incident, including unloading cargo and replacing the tyres. The plane was pulled away from the north runway at around 3.15pm. The authority said suspected tyre debris was found after the aircraft took off from Hong Kong at around 4.10am from the south runway. According to online flight data, the aircraft made a U-turn near Taipei at around 5am. Some passengers in Hong Kong missed connecting flights as a result of the delays, including Andy Zhang, 33, who was supposed to fly on EVA Air to Taipei in the afternoon. “I need to transit in Taipei to America. I don’t think I can catch it, as it is only two hours apart for these two flights,” he said. “And I doubt that any compensation will be provided if I miss my transit flight in Taipei, although my transit flight is also by EVA.” A 78-year-old woman, whose flight to Taipei was originally scheduled to depart Hong Kong at 1.40pm, waited for 3½ hours without knowing when she could leave. “I am very worried if there would be no flights today to Taipei. In that case, the following transit flight I need to catch in Tokyo will be wasted,” she said. Legislative Council transport panel chairman Ben Chan Han-pan urged the authority to review procedures for clearing runways. “It took too long to resolve the issue. The authority should take a look and see if there are other ways to speed up runway clearance,” he said. Warren Chim Wing-nin, deputy chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ aircraft division, said while it was too early to conclude how the incident took place, it was possible tyre damage occurred when the aircraft left Hong Kong. More tyres might have burst when the aircraft landed again in Hong Kong, while the hydraulic system failure might be related to brake problems and result in damaging tyres, he added. Chim also said it was reasonable to take a few hours to repair tyres as the incident took place far from airport hangars and workers had to unload parts. He noted that it could take hours or even a day to find and change spare tyres. In September 2019, a Hong Kong Airlines flight to Bali, Indonesia, suffered hydraulic failure after take off and had to make an emergency return, followed by a stop on the runway because of a burst tyre. The runway was closed for more than an hour until all 280 passengers had disembarked, the tyre was replaced and the aircraft towed away. In April 2012, a runway in Hong Kong was forced to close for about four hours after an Emirates aircraft arriving from Bangkok burst a tyre while landing. The aircraft was disabled after landing, and passengers disembarked using mobile stairs.

450 flights delayed after Hong Kong airport runway closed for 8 hours over cargo jet emergency

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Atlas Air cargo flight burst a tyre during an emergency landing

Atlas Air cargo flight burst a tyre during an emergency landing