Smoke fills Philippines-LA flight with 359 on board; Probe on: Watch Video | Today news

A Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles in the United States was forced to make an emergency landing in Japan after the cabin was full of smoke midair. The flight, with 355 passengers and four crew members, departed from Manila International Airport at about 22:00 on Wednesday. The incident happened when one of the air conditioners in the plane began to release smoke. Several videos and images that appear on social media showed passengers covering their noses due to smoking. After the incident, Vince Dizon, Transport Secretary, ordered an investigation into the emergency landing of a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight at Haneda Airport in Japan and to investigate how the air conditioning unit smoke began to emit. At a press conference, Vince Dizon said: “This is very important, especially for our airlines – we really need to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers, and we will have to see what happened.” “I have already instructed Caap (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) and the Civil Aeronautics Council to really look at what happened and see what really happened to the plane and how Philippine Airline responded to the incident,” he added. The minister informed that all passengers had been evacuated and that arrangements were being made to place passengers on other flights to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a notice on the cause of the Caap and the Civil Aeronautics Council was issued to Pal, with the claim of the reports that no support was made available to the passengers regretted. “Landing was noted that no ground staff or transport support was available to assist the passengers,” the order states, adding: “As you are aware, passengers are under the Air Passenger Bill of Rights (APBR) entitled to timely assistance, accommodation and information during delays, cancellations and deductions.” “Furthermore, the existing advice issued by this office requires airlines to ensure that sufficient support of the land handling is in place to sufficiently assist passengers in cases of flight developments.” First published: 11 Apr 2025, 01:02 AM IST