| Siti Hajar |
A TECHNICAL snag in one of the engines yesterday forced a Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) aircraft bound for Brunei Darussalam to return to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) shortly after take-off.
In a statement, the airlines said flight BI684, which departed NAIA for Bandar Seri Begawan at 3.05pm, experienced abnormal readings on one of its engines.
“As a safety precaution and in accordance with standard operating procedures, the captain decided to return to Manila to enable technical checks to be completed,” said the statement.
The aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner powered by Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines, landed back safely at NAIA and all 152 passengers were safely disembarked at the terminal, the statement added.
A number of passengers have been rerouted to their final destinations and all remaining passengers were provided with hotel accommodation.
Philippines news agency Inquirer – quoting a report from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines – said the pilot had radioed the Manila tower that the aircraft’s left engine had stopped functioning some 18 minutes after it took off from the NAIA runway.
The plane was 105 miles southwest of Manila “when it declared an emergency”, the report said.
Royal Brunei Airlines’ ground service crew checked the engine as soon as the aircraft landed, added the report.
However, the airline refuted claims that the aircraft lost power to one of its two engines when it was making its way to the Sultanate.