A SWISS Boeing 777 had a pretty rough day yesterday, after it diverted to Kazakhstan for a medical emergency. I first wrote about this yesterday, but wanted to provide an update about the “rescue” effort.
SWISS 7777 diverts to Kazakstan for medical emergency
This incident happened yesterday (Saturday, August 17, 2024), and involves SWISS flight LX161, scheduled to operate from Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Zurich (ZRH), with 319 passengers onboard.
The flight was flown by a six-year-old Boeing 777-300ER with the registration code HB-JNI. It was supposed to depart Tokyo at 10:55AM local time, and ended up taking off at 12PM, commencing its 5,976-mile flight to Zurich.
Roughly the first seven hours of the flight were routine, as the aircraft primarily made its way across China. However, at that point there was a medical emergency, prompting a diversion. The aircraft flew north a bit, and diverted to Astana International Airport (NQZ), in Kazakhstan. The plane touched down there on runway 22 at 4PM local time, exactly eight hours after it departed Tokyo.
This stopover wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, as the intent was for the passenger needing medical attention to be offloaded, and for the flight to continue to Zurich. Unfortunately that’s not how things played out, though…
SWISS 777 accidentally taxies off runway in Astana
Upon landing in Astana, the SWISS Boeing 777 had to turn around on the runway, as the taxiway was closed. While this is supposed to be a pretty standard procedure, that’s not how it played out here — for whatever reason, the pilots accidentally taxied the plane into the grass.
The nose gear then got stuck in the soft ground. This caused major issues for operations — the airport’s only runway was closed for over two hours, as rescue efforts were put into action to get the plane out of the grass. This caused several flight diversions. The aircraft eventually had to be towed back onto the runway and then to the apron.
Once clear of the runway, the aircraft had to be inspected for damage. Nearly 24 hours after the incident, the plane is still on the ground in Astana. Fortunately the passenger in need of medical attention was quickly looked after.
One really has to wonder how this could happen. Admittedly the pilots probably weren’t fully prepared for all conditions at the airport, since this was a medical diversion. Furthermore, turning a Boeing 777 on a 150-foot wide runway is a tight squeeze. However, I would assume that Boeing 777 pilots would generally have a good “feel” for their plane, when it comes to proper handling on the ground.
Austrian 777 sent to rescue stranded passengers
Once it was clear that this aircraft was stuck in Astana, the airline made plans to rescue the passengers. It’s not entirely clear to me if the SWISS Boeing 777 was damaged, if the crew simply timed out, or what, but regardless, SWISS needed a new plane.
Since SWISS is part of Lufthansa Group, ultimately the decision was made to send a Boeing 777 from sister carrier Austrian to rescue passengers. Specifically, the 22-year-old Boeing 777-200ER with the registration code OE-LPC was put into action to pick up passengers.
The plane departed Vienna (VIE) at 11:32PM on Saturday, August 27, 2024, and completed the 2,418-mile overnight flight in 5hr19min, landing at 7:32AM. Then the plane had a turnaround time of just over four hours, and once again departed Astana (NQZ) at 11:35AM, and it’s scheduled to arrive back in Vienna in the early afternoon.
It’s interesting that the plane is transporting passengers to Vienna, where passengers will then be rebooked on flights to their final destination. I imagine the flight is to Vienna rather than Zurich so that Austrian can get the 777 back into scheduled service as soon as possible, since the airline doesn’t have many spare wide body planes.
Bottom line
A SWISS Boeing 777 flying from Japan to Switzerland had a rather rough journey yesterday. The aircraft had to divert to Kazakstan due to a medical emergency. But then due to a closed taxiway, the aircraft had to backtrack on the runway, and somehow ended up taxiing into the grass.
The aircraft is still on the ground in Astana nearly a day later. In the meantime, an Austrian Boeing 777 was sent from Vienna to pick up passengers. They’ll now arrive in Vienna in the afternoon, and will then be rebooked to their final destination.
What do you make of this SWISS diversion to Astana?
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