Tigerair Taiwan plane lands safely in Hokkaido after smoke warning

Taipei, June 12 (CNA) Tigerair Taiwan on Friday denied media reports that one of its flights made an emergency landing in Hokkaido, saying the aircraft landed safely at New Chitose Airport after the crew responded to a smoke warning during landing.

Tigerair Taiwan said all passengers on the flight, which departed from Taipei Friday morning for the Japanese airport, left the aircraft safely.

The airline said it has reported the incident to Taiwan's Civil Aviation Administration.

According to a report from Kyodo News, the Tigerair Taiwan plane, flight code IT234, which departed from Taipei, made an emergency landing at Chitose Airport in Hokkaido at around 11 a.m. local time after smoke was reported coming from its cockpit around 10:45 a.m. The report said there were 179 passengers on board the Airbus A320 aircraft.

A runway at the airport was closed temporarily after the incident, the report said.

STV, a TV channel in Hokkaido, cited staff from Hokkaido Airports, which runs New Chitose Airport, as saying a plane made an emergency landing at the airport Friday morning.

The STV report also quoted local authorities as saying no fire took place during the landing with no injuries reported.

In response, Tigerair Taiwan clarified that the plane experienced an avionics bay smoke warning during landing, and that the crew notified air traffic control and followed standard procedures to allow passengers to disembark normally.

According to Tigerair Taiwan's flight schedule, the IT234 flight departs from Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:20 a.m. every Friday before arriving at Chitose Airport at around 11:05 a.m.

Due to the incident, the following IT235 flight, which had previously been slated to depart from Chitose Airport at 12:05 p.m. and arrive at Taoyuan Airport at 3:20 p.m., has been affected.

The carrier said it has provided meal vouchers and alternative transport for affected passengers. The carrier apologized for the inconvenience caused.