KARACHI: On Monday, a Fly Jinnah flight made an emergency landing at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA). All passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the aircraft.
Flight FL-846, which departed from Karachi in the south, was en route to Lahore in the east when the captain issued a mayday call at 7:15 PM, citing smoke detected in the cargo compartment.
“The Fly Jinnah flight, FL-846, safely landed in Lahore at 7:23 PM,” the PAA said in a statement. The Airport Authority’s Fire Department was on-site, following standard operating procedures, to handle any potential emergency.
All passengers and crew members were safely evacuated through the plane’s emergency exits. By 7:57 PM, the fire department had inspected and cleared the aircraft.
An investigation into the incident has been ordered.
Pakistan’s aviation sector has faced heightened scrutiny since 2020, following revelations that around 262 out of 860 active pilots held fraudulent licenses. This led to the suspension of about 150 pilots from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other carriers. The scandal emerged after a PIA flight, PK-8303, tragically crashed in Karachi on May 22, 2020, which resulted in the suspension of PIA’s operations in the European Union (EU) and other regions, sparking calls for regulatory reforms to enhance safety and transparency.
