Air Transport

One of Jakarta airport's runways remains closed because authorities are having trouble moving a Lion Air Boeing MD-90 that skidded off yesterday afternoon.

"The aircraft is still blocking the runway so all flights to terminal one [have been] moved to terminal two", says a Lion Air spokeswoman in Jakarta.

She says the MD-90 skidded off one of the runways yesterday at around 15:37 when it landed at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatti International Airport during windy and rainy conditions.

None of the 166 passengers or six crew on board the flight, from Makassar, were injured but the aircraft damaged its landing gear and now has some cracks to the left wing, she says.

The incident is subject to investigation and the aircraft is stuck in ground off the runway, she adds.

Lion's spokeswoman says the MD-90 has registration PK-LIL and according to Flight's ACAS database Boeing Capital owns this aircraft which was built in 1997.

ATI in December 1997 reported that PK-LIL lost the casing to one of its engines while taking off from Jakarta airport.

Lion mostly operates Boeing 737-900ERs and is phasing out its older aircraft.

Last month another Lion MD-90 was damaged when it landed at Indonesia's Batam airport without its front landing-gear extended.