Virgin flight makes emergency landing after engine issue

A Virgin Australia flight to Perth was forced to make an emergency landing soon after taking off from Melbourne on Monday evening, after crew on board reported an engine issue.

A Melbourne Airport spokesperson said the Boeing 737-800 landed safely just before 6:50pm, with all passengers disembarking safely.

“Virgin Australia flight VA697 to Perth returned to Melbourne Airport this evening after the crew reported an engine issue,” the spokesperson said.

The flight took off at 6:05pm, travelling for 44 minutes before making the emergency landing.

Virgin Australia chief operations officer Chris Snook said the forced landing was caused by a technical issue. “We apologise to guests for the disruption and thank them for their understanding.”

The aircraft will be inspected by engineers before returning to service, but so far, there is no evidence the engine caught fire.

Firefighters and paramedics were called to Tullamarine soon after landing, which the Melbourne Airport spokesperson said was in line with standard procedures.

Inspections were carried out before the runway reopened. The evacuated passengers will take off on a new flight later this evening.

It comes two years after another Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 suffered a midair engine fire.

The Melbourne-bound jet took off from Queenstown, carrying 73 people, when the engine fire forced an emergency landing. The plane landed safely at Invercargill Airport, about 200km from Queenstown.

Virgin Australia blamed the incident on “a possible bird strike,” the ABC reported at the time.

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