Saudia Airlines Hajj Flight Escapes Major Mishap at Lucknow Airport; All Passengers Safe

 Lucknow, June 16, 2025 — A potentially catastrophic aviation incident was narrowly avoided on Sunday morning when a Saudia Airlines flight carrying Hajj pilgrims encountered a technical malfunction upon landing at Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport.

The aircraft, operating as Flight SV 3112, departed from Jeddah at 10:45 PM on Saturday with 250 Hajj pilgrims and crew members on board. The flight landed in Lucknow around 6:30 AM, when sparks and smoke were observed emanating from one of the aircraft’s wheels during taxiing on the runway, prompting a rapid emergency response.

Sources at the airport confirmed that the pilot acted swiftly, bringing the aircraft to a complete stop. The airport’s fire and rescue teams were immediately deployed, and the situation was brought under control within 20 minutes.

Preliminary findings from airport engineers indicate a hydraulic system leak as the likely cause of the malfunction. While the issue was contained without further escalation, aviation analysts warned that such a fault, had it occurred during takeoff rather than landing, could have had far more serious consequences.

Importantly, no injuries were reported, and all passengers and crew were safely evacuated following the incident.

This close call comes in the wake of the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI 171, which claimed over 250 lives when it went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad last week. The back-to-back occurrences have renewed concerns over aviation safety standards, particularly with respect to maintenance protocols and technical inspections of commercial aircraft.

A full technical investigation into the Saudia Airlines incident is currently underway, with oversight from both Indian aviation authorities and Saudia’s technical operations team.