Passengers Stranded for Over 20 Hours After Pilot Taxis Swiss 777 Into Grass

 

 

What was supposed to be an emergency stop for one turned into a day-long inconvenience for over 300 travelers and over a dozen crew members as a SWISS Boeing 777 was stuck on a Kazakhstan runway, unable to move. It took 20 hours for another plane to be ready for the Tokyo passengers headed to Zurich.
 

A Swiss Garden

 

319 passengers boarded a Boeing 777 on Saturday August 17 2024, flying from Tokyo Narita in Japan to Zurich Airport in Switzerland. This flight was expected to only last around 14 hours.

The flight appeared normal for the first seven hours, but a medical emergency caused the flight to divert, scheduling an impromptu stop at Astana International Airport in Kazakhstan.

 

The plane managed to land and the passenger in question was taken to get treatment, though the flight went south very quickly. As the airport's taxiway was closed, the plane had to turn around 180 degrees on the runway. 

Because of the soft earth, the plane's nose wheel sunk into the grass and the aircraft became trapped, unable to move in any direction.

 

The plane was stuck sideways over the runway for several hours, affecting many flights arriving and departing Astana, as it's the airport's lone runway.

 

While crews managed to get the plane towed and back onto the runway, it had to be inspected in the meantime, leaving hundreds of passengers without a flight to Zurich.

Swiss International Airlines ruled out the idea of flying the plane to Zurich at that point.

"As rebooking options in Astana are limited, the possibility of sending a new aircraft and crew from Zurich is also being examined," a spokesperson told Business Insider.
 

Swiss's Backup Plan(e)

SWISS managed to secure a large enough plane to fly the passengers to Zurich. A 22-year-old Boeing 777 had to be flown in from Vienna, Austria. The plane is managed by Swiss's sister company Austrian Airlines.

The rescue plane had taken off on its way to Astana 20 hours after the stuck plane landed in Kazakhstan.

 

The 300 passengers on board were flown back to Vienna, where another flight had to be booked to take them to Zurich Airport.

A SWISS spokesperson had this to say to Business Insider:

"We thank all our passengers for their understanding and patience in this exceptional and unforeseen situation ... We apologize once again for any inconvenience caused. A big thank you also goes to all the employees involved for their tireless and outstanding efforts."
 

This was a very long time to wait for international travelers, all because of how soft the ground was surrounding the runway. To Astana Airport's defense, nobody was expecting something like this to happen with an emergency stop. 

 

This can be a true learning experience for airports and airlines, however, as it should be considered a risk to try to turn a plane around on a narrow runway. A couple of hours to accommodate the emergency flight could have worked to prevent nearly a day-long wait for two impromptu flights to Switzerland, as well as inconvenience for many other flights as Astana.

 

What are your two cents? Did SWISS act to the best of its abilities? Should the plane have taken off after it was towed? Sound off in the comments section below!