IAS issues apology for Maldivian's emergency landing

Island Aviation Services (IAS), on Tuesday, released a press statement formally apologizing to passengers aboard Q2 118, plane which faced technical issues during its landing at Gan International Airport.

IAS guaranteed that efforts to identify and solve the technical issues were underway and affirmed that Maldivian, the national airline, complied with all regulations set by the Maldives Civil Aviation Authority and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Island Aviation also expressed gratitude to the passengers for the support they extended to crew members.

The captain and crew of the flight who were required to conduct an emergency landing due to the malfunctions were heartily commended for their efforts by the airline and several members of the public across social media platforms.

Flight Captain Abdul Baasith Ibrahim, First Officer Rimah Rushdhi, and In-Flight Supervisor Hasna Mohamed received praise from Maldivian in a tweet posted along with their picture from the company's official handle.

Citizens on twitter also cheered the crew for the efficient and expert manner in which they took charge of safely conducting the emergency landing.

Public Relations Manager for Maldivian, Moosa Waseem, stated that the flight was in the air for an hour and 20 minutes due to a technical issue with the landing gear, but provided no further details.

The flight was unable to land due to an issue with its landing gear. As the aircraft prepared for landing, the air traffic control tower informed the pilots that landing gear had not descended. The crew then worked on releasing the gear manually and landed the flight once the air traffic control tower declared that it was safe to do so.

At the time of the incident, the entire airport was reportedly in a mild state of panic. However, Maldivian tweeted almost immediately afterwards, providing assurances that the landing took place smoothly and that no injuries had occurred.