Jetliner forced to land after losing cabin pressure

[Ben Longden]

September 25, 2007 - 10:02AM

 

Melb Age

 

An Airbus airliner operated by an Indonesian carrier was forced to land yesterday after losing cabin pressure, a spokesman said.

 

The Batavia Air flight with 134 passengers diverted to the Sumatran city of Padang, several hundred km from its destination, Batavia Air spokesman Anton Situmeang said.

 

No one was hurt and passengers were transferred to another Batavia Air plane that took off 90 minutes later for the regional capital of Medan.

 

"Due to causes we are still trying to uncover, there was a pressurisation problem," he said. "Oxygen masks were dropped automatically and the pilot had to divert the plane."

 

The 10-year-old Airbus A-320 was flown back to Jakarta without passengers for technical examination, the spokesman said.

 

Indonesia is trying to improve its safety image after three plane accidents this year prompted the European Union to blacklist all its airlines. The US Federal Aviation Administration also downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.