Helsinki: A commercial aircraft carrying about 150 people slid off the runway while landing at Kittila Airport in Finland’s Lapland region amid stormy weather, Finnish airport operator Finavia said.
The aircraft came to a stop in deep snow, and no injuries were reported, Finavia said on Saturday afternoon (local time). The operator confirmed to local media that the flight was arriving from Geneva, Switzerland, but did not identify the airline.
In a separate incident, a smaller aircraft with 10 people on board also hit a snowbank at Kittila on Saturday afternoon, with no injuries reported, according to Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat. Finavia confirmed the incident, reports Xinhua news agency.
Finavia said recovery operations to remove the aircraft caused delays to other flights at Kittila. Stormy conditions also disrupted air traffic at Rovaniemi and Ivalo, also located in Lapland, resulting in delays and cancellations.
Finavia said air traffic restrictions and disruptions had been in place at Ivalo, Kittila and Rovaniemi airports since 4 p.m. local time on Saturday due to severe weather conditions.
Flight operations later resumed at Ivalo and Kittila in the evening, while air traffic at Rovaniemi remained suspended. Finavia added that conditions, wind strength and the continuation of flight operations were being continuously assessed in cooperation with air traffic control.
Ivalo, Kittila and Rovaniemi are well-known winter tourist destinations and see heightened air traffic during the holiday season.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute said a low-pressure system named Storm Hannes was moving south across northern Finland on Saturday, bringing strengthening north-northwesterly winds. The storm was expected to peak late Saturday evening before gradually weakening.
(IANS)
