Airlink passengers switch aircraft after tyre burst halts Cape Town flight

Airlink passengers travelling from Johannesburg to Cape Town boarded a replacement aircraft on Sunday, 25 October, after a tyre burst forced their original flight to stop during take-off.

The airline’s Embraer E190 was carrying 75 passengers and crew combined when the incident occurred on flight 4Z 951 on Sunday afternoon.

In correspondence reported by The South African, Airlink said the pilots abandoned the take-off and brought the aircraft to a halt on the runway, following standard procedures.

Replacement aircraft arranged

Buses and mobile stairs were dispatched to transfer passengers. A subsequent update said they had boarded the replacement aircraft, while engineers were inspecting the original plane to establish how it could be moved safely off the runway.

Airlink apologised to affected travellers for the disruption and inconvenience. The airline’s reported account did not explain what caused the tyre to burst.

A confirmed arrival time for the replacement flight and the outcome of the engineering inspection were not available in the reports checked for this article.