Starbow airline has denied media reports that an aircraft of the company caught fire in mid-air.
“… there was no emergency landing whatsoever; there was no danger like is being reported,’’ Chief Executive Officer of Starbow, James Eric Antwi told Citi News.
The aircraft was reported to have made an emergency landing at the Kotoka International Airport shortly after take-off on Saturday.
But Mr. Antwi said the aircraft only had a technical problem, hence the abrupt landing.
He added that the aircraft was not on fire.
The Kumasi bound Starbow aircraft on Saturday was forced to land shortly after taking off because it developed a fault mid-flight.
Some passengers who were on board a Kumasi-bound domestic airline, Starbow say they were left traumatized after the plane on which they were travelling allegedly caught fire mid-flight.
Below is a statement from Starbow
A Starbow aircraft was involved in an incident on Saturday 9th August 2014 .The four-engine jet aircraft, BAe 146 was en route from Accra to Kumasi operating a scheduled flight S9100.
NATURE OF INCIDENT
The incident occurred in Accra during the take-off phase of the flight. During the initial climb-out about 3,000 feet, a technical problem was detected on one of the 4 engines. The Captain took the necessary action and informed the passengers accordingly. The Captain returned the aircraft to base.
Suffice to add that, the aircraft could have safely proceeded to its destination, i.e. Kumasi without any hitch, but the Captain decided to return to base, Accra as per company’s procedures. The Captain’s decision was prudent in the sense that Accra is the base of all the airline maintenance works. Contrary to media reports, there was no emergency landing and no secondary damage to the aircraft whatsoever. As a matter of fact, the landing was very normal.
STARBOW’S ASSURANCE
Starbow will like to take this opportunity to apologize to all our affected passengers on board and assure the general public and more especially its cherished passengers that as a company we will continue to strive for the highest compliance of strict airline security and safety measures at all times.
By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana