All the 367 passengers plus eight toddlers and 12 crew on board the Airbus SE A350-900 plane were safely evacuated, an airline spokesperson said by telephone. Flight JL516, operated by a 2 year old Airbus A350-900 jet, took off from New Chitose airport near Sapporo at 4:27 p.m. local time and landed at 5:47 p.m, according to FlightRadar24
A Japan Airlines plane with almost 400 passengers and crew onboard caught fire on landing at Haneda airport in Tokyo after it collided with another plane on Tuesday, national broadcaster NHK reported, adding it appeared all aboard had safely evacuated.
All the 367 passengers plus eight toddlers and 12 crew on board the Airbus SE A350-900 plane were safely evacuated, an airline spokesperson said by telephone. Flight JL516, operated by a 2 year old Airbus A350-900 jet, took off from New Chitose airport near Sapporo at 4:27 p.m. local time and landed at 5:47 p.m, according to FlightRadar24.
The fire could be seen in the fuselage of the plane in a live video from NHK. A previous video showed the plane touching down on the runway with flames coming from the aircraft as it landed.
NHK TV quoted the Japan Airlines as saying it believed its plane was hit by another aircraft, possibly a Japan Coast Guard plane. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
Japan’s Coast Guard said it is checking reports about a collision between its aircraft and the JAL flight on fire. It had no further details.
Airbus said it was in contact with the airline but had no further information at this time.
Haneda airport was closed after the aircraft accident, NHK added.
More than 70 fire engines were being deployed, NHK reported. Japan has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.
Its worst ever was in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in central Gunma region, killing 520 passengers and crew.
That disaster was one of the world’s deadliest plane crashes involving a single flight.
Agencies