Flights Suspended at İstanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport After Plane Skids off Runway

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İstanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport has suspended flight operations until after a passenger plane skidded off a runway.

The Pegasus Airline plane coming from the UAE's Sharjah International Airport suffered the incident at 09.43 a.m. local time (06.43GMT) due to bad weather conditions, according to the İstanbul Governor's Office. All 164 passengers on the plane were evacuated safely and there were no injuries, it added.

Images from the scene showed emergency vehicles surrounding the plane, which was apparently stranded on the grass next to the runways, although no-one was injured and passengers were safely evacuated.

Bilal Ekşi, Turkish Airlines' (THY) CEO, said on Twitter that Turkey's national flag carrier had to suspend flights in and out of Sabiha Gokcen Airport until 03.00 p.m. local time due to the runway closure.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines redirected its Sabiha Gökçen-bound five flights to İstanbul Airport and one to Ankara. (AÖ/VK)