HONG KONG: A Cathay Pacific Airways plane bound for Penang was forced to turn to Hong Kong minutes after taking off, due to an "unusual odour" in the plane's cabin after it took off this morning.
The 'Bangkok Post' portal reported that Flight CX633, scheduled to depart the city on Sunday at 8.15am and arrive in Penang at 12.05pm, was rescheduled after the turnback.
Based on the report, the turnback to Hong Kong by the pilot was a precautionary measure in accordance with the standard operating procedure, especially after receiving a report of an unusual smell in the Airbus A330 plane.
The plane returned to Hong Kong International Airport at 8.53am and no passengers or crew members were injured, the flag carrier told the portal.
Cathay Pacific, in a post on its website, said the passengers were safe and taken care off until they boarded the 12.30pm flight to Penang.
It said those on the flight were offered access to a lounge at the airport and given meal coupons, while waiting to be flown out on another plane at 12.30pm.
It said a full inspection of the aircraft in question would be conducted soon.
In October last year, a Cathay Pacific flight en route to Madrid, Spain, had to be recalled to Hong Kong over a "system anomaly" related to the aircraft.
A second incident involving the same carrier happened in the same month where a Japan-bound plane carrying 290 had to return to Hong Kong after a cargo door was not locked on the plane.