The runway at Istanbul Airport closed after a cargo plane’s emergency landing due to a landing gear malfunction has reopened for flights, an official said Thursday.
"The cargo aircraft, which made an emergency landing on our 16R runway yesterday, was successfully removed from the runway and taken to a safe spot thanks to the coordination of all our stakeholders and the devoted work of our teams," CEO of Istanbul Airport operator IGA Selahattin Bilgen wrote on X.
"Following the success of our operation, our runway is back in service," he added.
This comes after a FedEx Express Boeing 767 cargo aircraft made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday when its front landing gear failed to deploy. It managed to stay on the runway. Authorities have said they will launch an investigation into the incident.
The Boeing 767 belonging to FedEx Express used the back landing gear and then dipped its nose to land with the front portion of the fuselage, according to a video on social media.
The plane was on the last leg of its flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Istanbul when the pilots realized the front landing gear failed to open.
Pilots informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul Airport and landed with guidance from the tower, the Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry said in its statement.
Airport rescue and fire fighting teams made necessary preparations before landing, the ministry also said. Authorities gave no reason for the failure.
Following the incident, Türkiye's Transportation Ministry initiated an investigation into the emergency landing of a FedEx Boeing 767 cargo plane without its front landing gear on Wednesday. A ministry official mentioned that their teams were at the scene conducting examinations as part of the ongoing investigation, although specific details were not disclosed.
