Changi Airport reopens runway nearly 3 hours after Air China emergency landing

CHANGI Airport reopened Runway 3 on Sunday (Sep 10) evening, nearly three hours after Air China flight CA403 made an emergency landing that left the runway temporarily closed.

In an update on Facebook, Changi Airport said the runway was reopened at around 7.02 pm following checks. During the period of closure, one aircraft – Scoot flight TR635 from Hat Yai – was diverted to Batam, Indonesia. 

CA403, which departed from Chengdu, declared an emergency on Sunday afternoon after encountering smoke in the forward cargo hold and lavatory en route to Changi Airport. The flight was given priority, and landed at around 4.15 pm.

After landing, emergency slides of the aircraft were deployed for evacuation, and a fire in the left engine of the aircraft was put out by the Airport Emergency Service.

Changi Airport said all 146 passengers and nine crew were evacuated safely and ferried by bus to the terminal. Nine passengers sustained minor injuries related to smoke inhalation and abrasions during the evacuation process.

The disabled aircraft was towed away from the runway at about 6 pm. Changi Airport earlier warned that flight operations may be affected from the runway closure, but said later on Sunday evening that airport operations were back to normal.

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Air China plane lands safely at Changi Airport after engine catches fire; one runway closed

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Images from flight tracking website Flightradar24 around 8.50 pm on Sunday showed more than 15 aircraft queueing up to take off from Runway 3.

Flights to Changi Airport currently operate out of Runways 1 and 3. Runway 2 has been closed since 2020 for works on the Changi East Development. According to the airport’s website, the three-runway system is scheduled to be operational by the mid-2020s.

Changi Airport said the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau is investigating the incident, and has contacted its Chinese counterpart which will be assisting with the investigation.