Hong Kong airport runway closed after plane bursts tyre during emergency return. Photo: SCMPThe Hong Kong International Airport shut one of its runways and warned of possible flight delays on Monday morning after a cargo plane burst a tyre as it made an emergency return journey.
The Airport Authority said the incident took place at around 7.30am.
It was not immediately clear why the aircraft initiated an emergency return.
“The plane is now staying on the north runway. We estimate that the north runway will not be able to operate in the coming few hours,” an authority spokesman said. “We can only operate with one runway.”
He was referring to the airport’s south runway.
The cargo plane was still on the north runway and surrounded by several service vehicles as of Monday noon.
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The authority urged tourists to check for updates on their flights as it expected aircraft scheduled to fly in the morning would be affected.
According to aircraft data available online, the plane is Atlas Air cargo flight 5Y4304.
The aircraft departed at 4.09am for Anchorage in the United States before making a U-turn near Taipei an hour later and arriving back in Hong Kong several hours after.
Last year, a Cathay Pacific Airways flight bound for Japan was forced to return to Hong Kong after a cargo door on the aircraft was “found unlocked”.
The plane landed safely and the passengers later flew to their destination on another flight.