A cargo flight operated by S7 Airlines entered a wrong taxiway leading to the closure of the northern runway in Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) last night.
Reported at around midnight, an arriving Boeing 737-800BCF operated by S7, legally known as Siberian Airlines, exited runway 07L on an unfinished taxiway between taxiway A6 and A7. The freighter requested assistance and was towed to a parking bay soon after. Air traffic control decided to close the northern runway due to the incident and the runway was reopened at around 01:00 a.m. local time. At least three arriving aircrafts were affected and landed on the southern runway following a go-around.
The flight originated from Irkutsk, Russia to Hong Kong with a total flight time of 4hrs 39mins. Landing at 00:03 a.m. local time in Hong Kong, the aircraft vacated the runway and entered an area to the right that appeared to be a paved segment for a new taxiway to connect to the 3rd runway that is under construction. The fire brigade and rescue service were on standby, but there were no reported injuries for the incident. The aircraft was released after maintenance checks and is currently back in the air.
According to the weather report in HKIA at the time of landing:
METAR VHHH 131600Z 10011G21KT 8000 3200N +SHRA FEW015 SCT030 27/25 Q1007 NOSIG=
The reported visibility was 8km with gusting wind up to 38km/h from the east and heavy shower and rain within the vicinity of the airport. The report also suggested that the visibility is reduced on the northern side of the airport where the landing runway is situated down to 3.2 km and is still above the minimum visibility for the Boeing 737 to land. HKIA has yet to comment on whether the reduced visibility may have contributed to the incident.
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