PERTH - Fumes could be smelt in the cabin of an Emirates Airline flight to Dubai before it returned to Perth and made an emergency landing yesterday.
An A340-500 Airbus, with 122 passengers aboard, landed safely at Perth International Airport at 8.50am (12.50pm NZT) after leaving for Dubaialmost two-and-a-half hours earlier.
Emirates said in a statement that contrary to some media reports, there had been no smoke in the cockpit or the cabin of the aircraft.
But passengers said they had detected a strong smell of fumes.
Michael Chaney said there was "a bit of smoke in the cabin" before the pilot announced the plane was returning to Perth.
"Smoke was not smelt by most passengers in the plane but airline staff checked cabin luggage to try and find where the smell was coming from. It was all very well organised ... the pilot said the plane was operating normally and the plane was coming back as a precaution."
Perth woman Tracey Corp said there had definitely been a burning smell in the cabin. A man who wanted to be known only as Peter, said the smell of fumes had been "quite strong ... It was chemical-type fumes smell ... almost an overheating type smell."
Another passenger, Sunny Chopra, said cabin crew had triggered some panic among passengers. A hostess had told passengers they were looking for fire equipment. "She said there was nothing to worry about but the way they were running ... raised the bells."
He said he was thinking about the Qantas flight last week, in which 70 passengers were injured when an aircraft plunged hundreds of feet.
