Muscat: An Oman Air aircraft had a minor accident at the Zanzibar International Airport on Sunday, delaying the onward flight to about four hours.
“There was a very minor accident on the Zanzibar Airport runway but after routine checks the same aircraft (Boeing 737-800) carried on to Dar-Es-Salaam and finally to Muscat without any problems,” Osama Bin Karim Al Haremi, Oman Air’s Head Of Corporate Communications and Media, informed Gulf News.
He added that a human error caused by a ground staff marshalling the aircrafts in the parking bay caused the accident but there was no damage to the Oman Air aircraft. According to reports from Zanzibar, wings of the Oman Air and an Ethiopian Airline aircrafts brushed against each other during parking manoeuvres.
Oman Air took delivery of new Boeing 737-800 in 2009.
A spokesperson for the airlines said that in the 20-year-long history of the national airline this was the first time that an aircraft was involved in an accident. “Our safety record is impeccable,” the spokesperson added.
However, in the recent times, twice in a space of one month the airline had to deal with a hoax bomb call and incidentally for the same flight — Muscat to Kuala Lumpur.
On May 21, the Oman Air flight to Kuala Lumpur was called back midway after a call about a bomb on board the aircraft. The hoax call was made as soon as the flight had left the Muscat International Airport and was called back and a thorough check — revealed that it was hoax call.
Then again the same flight had to make an emergency landing in Mumbai on June 21 after a mid-air bomb scare.
