An Air Macau aircraft flying to Bangkok on Monday night returned to the Macau International Airport (MIA) less than one hour into its flight. Contacted by the Times, the Civil Aviation Authority of Macau (AACM) confirmed this.
“The airport informed us through a phone call, and no written report has been made yet,” said Euphemia Lam, senior officer of public relations of AACM. She added that according to the local aviation regulations, the airline is given 72 hours to send reports in to the AACM after incidents take place.
Some news outlets have reported that the AACM has commenced an investigation into the incident. However, Lam clarified to the Times that “no investigation pursued by the AACM is ongoing as no written reports have been delivered yet.” She emphasized: “We can’t investigate until we [have] received the reports.”
At the time of the incident, the aircraft was carrying a total of 159 passengers, having departed from the local airport around 10.15 p.m. on Monday night. The aircraft returned to the airport after an abnormal smell was noticed by staff on the plane, according to a report by TDM.
According to Lam, so far the two oral reports received from the related parties indicate that both smoke and an abnormal smell were reported, upon which the captain made the decision to fly back to the city.
After the incident, all passengers were arranged new flights to Bangkok after waiting two hours at the airport.
In April of last year, Air Macau reportedly had a flight carrying 175 passengers flying from Bangkok to Macau which was forced to return to Suvarnabhumi Airport one hour after take-off. Problems in one of the aircraft’s engines prevented the plane from climbing to its required cruising altitude. Staff reporter
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