Allama Iqbal Airport shuts down for two hours

Allama Iqbal International Airport shuts down for two hours after Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-758 from London developed a technical fault after landing on Wednesday and hence could not move on to the parking area. It was reported that the said flight, carrying 172 passengers, safely landed at the airport, but due to technical fault in its hydraulic system (developed after the landing), the wheels of the plane were jammed.
Fortunately all the passengers and crew onboard remained safe. The incident took place on runway number 2. This is a second incident at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in two consecutive days. On Tuesday, a Boeing 737 of a private airline skidded off the main runway to soft ground after a fault developed in the plane during landing. Hence, the main runway of the airport had to be closed down. Two incidents in two days led to closure of both runways of the airport and the flight operation was suspended for two hours.
A PIA's spokesperson told Business Recorder that a wheel of PK-758 flight was jammed after the landing and hence it could not proceed to the main terminal. During taxiing, a technical fault developed in the wheels and the pilot stopped the plane where it was. "The passengers and the crewmember were safely offloaded and there were no injuries or damages," he added.
He also said for a few hours the runway was shut down for flight operations and the national carrier's engineers inspected the problem. Later, the aircraft was towed off the runway after the inspection was completed and the flight operations resumed, he added.
According to a Civil Aviation Authority's spokesperson, the flight had landed in normal circumstances, but during taxiing a technical fault was developed that caused jamming of wheels. The runway was closed down for an hour and later after removal of the aircraft from the runway the flight operation resumed. Only one flight was affected by the closed down that was diverted to the Sialkot Airport. Regarding the closure of the main runway, he said it will be available for normal flight operations in few hours once the plane of the private airline is removed.