79 people on board Confederation announces cause of Swiss emergency landing in Graz
According to the Swiss authorities, the cause of the emergency landing of a Swiss aircraft in Graz is due to a technical problem. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
25.12.2024, 10:36
25.12.2024, 11:09
SDA
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- A Swiss aircraft made an unscheduled landing in Graz, Austria, on Tuesday.
- According to the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, the incident was caused by technical problems.
On Tuesday, a Swiss aircraft made an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, following engine problems and smoke in the cabin and cockpit. The authorities have now provided information on the cause of the incident.
The Austrian Federal Safety Investigation Board (SUB) and the public prosecutor's office were on site in the lead, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (Bazl) announced on Wednesday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
They are investigating the details that led to the incident. Until these are known, the affected aircraft will remain on the ground. The aircraft and engine manufacturers have been informed. From a technical point of view, no further measures are required at the moment.
According to Bazl, a Swiss technical team was on site shortly after the incident. The technical team was able to localize a technical problem on the aircraft. The Bazl is now in contact with the airline Swiss. At the request of Keystone-SDA, Swiss said that investigations were ongoing and that it was still too early to provide more precise information on the causes.
Passengers left the plane via emergency slides
On Tuesday, one day after the emergency landing due to smoke in the cabin, two crew members were still receiving medical treatment - one of them in intensive care. Swiss flew the affected passengers to Switzerland on a replacement aircraft.
The aircraft was en route from Bucharest to Zurich on Monday with 74 passengers and five crew members when it experienced engine problems and smoke in the cockpit and passenger cabin. After landing, the passengers left the aircraft via the emergency slides. Twelve passengers and four other crew members required medical treatment.
Twelve hospitalized passengers and two crew members were able to leave the hospital on Tuesday. A special flight also brought the passengers to Zurich on Tuesday morning. They had spent the night in hotels. The airport in Graz was temporarily closed in the evening following the incident. Airport operations returned to normal on Tuesday.
Problems in the past
The affected Airbus A220 aircraft series, a modern short-haul jet, has repeatedly experienced engine problems in the past. The aircraft are equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines. In some incidents, parts of the engine were ejected outwards due to a malfunction. The incidents led to temporary groundings, which also affected Swiss.
The Lufthansa subsidiary operates 30 aircraft of the short-haul jet, 21 in the long-haul version and 9 in the short-haul version. The longer version has 145 seats and a range of over 6000 kilometers.