A Lion Air Boeing 737-900ER was involved in a ground incident on 24 April at Medan Kuala Namu International airport.

The low-cost carrier’s parent company Lion Group explained that the aircraft, registered PK-LFT, was due to operate as flight JT303 to Jakarta, when the incident happened.

“After the aircraft had started its engine and was preparing for pushback, there was an ‘exploding’ noise at the back of the aircraft. Upon hearing the noise, passengers began to panic and they evacuated using the emergency slide,” says the firm.

There were 206 passengers and seven crew members on that aircraft. Several passengers also suffered light injuries.

“The source of this incident is being investigated, and our priority is to ensure the passengers' safety,” adds Lion Group’s head of corporate secretary Dwiyanto Ambarhidayat.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database shows that the aircraft was delivered to Lion Air in February 2009. Oceanic Aviation 1 Ltd owns the aircraft, through a sale and leaseback transaction.

Source: Cirium Dashboard