A Swiss Air Lines flight attendant has been airlifted to a hospital in Austria after an Airbus A220 made an emergency landing in Graz when the cabin filled with smoke. The airline said it was “following with concern” the condition of the crew member, following the incident on Monday incident.
The four other crew members on the single-aisle short-haul aircraft were also taken to hospital for assessment, while 10 of the 74 passengers onboard also needed medical attention following the emergency landing.
Swiss Air flight LX1885 was operating a routine scheduled flight from Bucharest to Zurich when the pilots made what the airline described as an “unscheduled landing” in Graz, where passengers were evacuated onto the runway via emergency slides.
The seven-year-old aircraft remains on the sole asphalt runway at Graz Airport in southeastern Austria and the airport has been closed until further notice.
In a statement, Swiss International Airlines said that the aircraft experienced engine problems, which was followed by smoke in both the cabin and cockpit.
“We are following with concern the condition of a cabin crew member who was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Graz, whose condition is currently unclear. The other four crew members have also gone into medical care,” the statement continued.
A spokesperson added: “Our top priority is to provide the best possible support for all those affected.” An emergency response team is preparing to depart for Graz, where they will provide assistance to the passengers and crew members involved.
Unlike many commercial airplanes, the Airbus A220 does not normally use so-called ‘bleed air’ in which air is extracted from the engines and used in the airplane’s air conditioning system.
However, the aircraft does sometimes make use of bleed air as a backup or under certain specific circumstances. As a result, there is the risk that smokes from the engines or engine oil being vaporized could have entered the cabin through the air conditioning system.
The only commercial passenger plane that does not rely on bleed air to supply air into the cabin at all times in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
