At Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight travelling from Jeddah to Lahore made an emergency landing after signalling an onboard emergency, as confirmed by the airline.
According to a PIA spokesperson, due to a technical issue, Flight PK860, operated by a Boeing 77,7 was diverted while still in Saudi airspace.
The aircraft was scheduled to land in Lahore at 8:00 pm. It had 437 passengers on board, excluding the crew.
The 7700 transponder code was activated by the crew during the flight. It is an internationally recognised signal to alert traffic control of a general emergency. The aircraft was given prioritised handling.
The plane landed safely in Dammam. Technical inspections are being done by engineering teams.
The exact nature of the fault is not disclosed by the airline. They also did not provide a timeline for the continuation of the flight journey to Lahore.
PIA has also not commented on passenger facilitation arrangements after the diversion.
This is not the first time that the airline has faced such problems. The airline has faced flight disruptions due to technical faults and disputes involving aircraft engineers over safety standards, working conditions and spare parts availability.
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