German Charter Flight Forced into Emergency Landing
October 18, 2008
The Frankfurt-based firm said its Boeing 737-800 with 188 passengers and crew landed following a warning of an unspecified "engine problem" in the cockpit, spokesman Asger Schubert told the DPA news agency.
Schubert denied Serbian media reports claiming that one of the plane's engines caught fire.
Smoke was seen coming from one of the plane's two engines and firefighters doused the aircraft with foam when it landed, he added.
The pilot reported engine failure before entering Serbian airspace and asked for permission to land in Belgrade, the spokesman said.
"Passengers were safely evacuated and nobody was injured," a spokesperson for Belgrade airport said.
The aircraft was flying from Frankfurt to Antalya in Turkey. Passengers were to be transferred to Turkey with another engine during the day.
XL was founded two years ago. It charters planes to travel agencies, mostly for destinations in the Mediterranean basin.