AirAsia planes in fresh incidents in Thailand and Philippines

A photo of AirAsia flight Z2272 which had overshot the runway at
Kalibo airport in Boracay island this evening. The photo is from
the Twitter account of Filipino journalist Jet Damazo-Santos.
 – Twitter pic, December 30, 2014. -

An AirAsia flight bound for northeast Thailand turned back to the capital Bangkok shortly after takeoff today when pilots detected an "irregularity" in the storage compartment, airline officials said.

Just hours later, another AirAsia jet – this time in the Philippines – skidded off the runway on arrival at a popular resort island, causing no injuries but shutting the small airport, the airline and police confirmed.

The incidents come as search teams spotted wreckage and bodies in the sea, which was confirmed to be from Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 that vanished in a storm Sunday en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people aboard.

In the Philippines, AirAsia flight Z2272, which was flying from Manila overshot the runway in Kalibo airport as it landed in bad weather on the tourist island of Boracay this afternoon.

Police spokeswoman Nida Gregas confirmed to AFP that there were no injuries and all 153 passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the aircraft.

Singapore's Straits Times reports that several posts on social media showed emergency slides being deployed from the Airbus A320 plane, after it had come to a halt on a grassy field.

Passenger Jet Damazo-Santos tweeted at 5.50pm: "Just landed in Kalibo on an AirAsia flight that overshot runway," according to the Singapore daily.

Damazo-Santos is a Filipino journalist and had also posted several photos on her Twitter account, saying that no one seemed to be hurt.

The Airbus A320, which had departed from Manila, was operated by AirAsia Zest, an affiliate of Philippines AirAsia.

Damazo-Santos also tweeted: "Weather was bad because of #seniangph. Plane came to a very abrupt stop," she said, referring to tropical storm Seniang.

"Engine was shut immediately, we were told to leave bags, deplane asap. Firetruck was waiting. Seems handled well."

Earlier today, AirAsia flight FD3254 returned to Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport soon after departing for Khon Kaen at 11.10 am (12.10pm Malaysian time).

It was allowed to resume service after engineers ruled out any technical problems.

"After departure from Don Mueang, the pilots detected a minor irregularity in the storage area, thus in the interest of safety the flight returned to land at Don Mueang Airport for a detailed inspection," said Thai AirAsia in a statement.

"Engineers did not discover any issues compromising the safety of flight FD3254," it said.

No passengers cancelled their flights and the plane arrived at its destination an hour behind schedule, officials said.

An AirAsia spokesman at Don Mueang Airport said the pilots turned back after "hearing some noise in the luggage compartment". He could not confirm the reason for the noise.

Around two hours later a Thai Airways Airbus A340-600 from Bangkok to London was forced to return to the Thai capital shortly after take off, after the pilot reported a technical problem.

"The plane had a problem with the hydraulic system, as a result the pilot decided to fly back to Suvarnabhumi Airport," according to a Thai Airways statement. – AFP, December 30, 2014.