A Swiss aircraft has to abort its take-off in Zurich on Wednesday morning. As a result, nothing works for the time being.
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- A Swiss aircraft has to abort its take-off in Zurich on Wednesday morning.
- As a result, nothing works for the time being.
- Only after 40 minutes did traffic start to run smoothly again.
An incident occurred at Kloten Airport on Wednesday morning that brought air traffic to a standstill for around 40 minutes. An Airbus A330 belonging to the airline Swiss had to be stopped shortly after take-off because the crew suspected a collision with a bird.
The aircraft was already on the runway at a speed of 110 knots (over 200 kilometers per hour) when the decision was made to abort the take-off, as "20 Minuten" initially reported. The Airbus then came to a halt near a runway intersection.
As the radio communication between the pilot and the tower shows, the abort was fairly quick. Shortly after 10 a.m., the tower radios the pilot and clears him for take-off. A short time later it says: "Swiss 6 Alpha, we are stopping on the runway."
The tower then asks whether the aircraft needs a gate to let people disembark. After a brief moment, the pilot confirms this. "Yes, we had a bird strike and are taxiing back."
233 passengers affected
As an eyewitness reported, all air traffic on both runways came to a standstill at around 10 a.m. The airport fire department was quickly on the scene and the affected aircraft was towed off the runway. After around 40 minutes, regular air traffic was able to resume.
Swiss spokeswoman Meike Fuhlrott confirmed the incident. She added that the aircraft was being examined by the maintenance department following the incident. "At the same time, we are evaluating alternatives to get the 233 passengers to their destination as quickly as possible," said Fuhlrott. The spokeswoman also expressed her regret: "We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our passengers."