B-777 Vietnam Airlines makes emergency landing in Baku - UPDATED

At 2 pm Paris time (13:00 UTC time) on January 15, flight VN534 managed by chief pilot Hoang Van Manh and his crew and 297 passengers departed Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris for Hanoi.  After flying 5 hours and 50 minutes, the pilot landed at Baku airport at 18:51 local time after having discovered several cracks in the cockpit window.

Mr Trung said that this was just a technical landing, not an emergency landing as several foreign press agencies reported.

"The situation is not serious, but the crack must be repaired. We have appointed another aircraft to fly from Vietnam to Azerbaijan to bring the passengers on to Vietnam.

"In fact, there was no problem with the safety of the flight. The crack is just a small problem. We have had such troubles on some other flights, mostly in domestic flights. This is the first time the trouble has occurred on an international flight," Mr Trung said.

Mr Trung said that it would not take much time to fix the trouble. A new cockpit window will replaced the cracked one and the aircraft will return to normal operation.

In the latest news, Vietnam Airlines has announced that the flight from Baku to Vietnam with the said will depart on 2:45 am January 17 (23:25 Baku time) and arrive in Hanoi at 8:45 am the same day.

All passengers have been taken to Baku hotel in Azerbaijan. VietnamNet

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January 15, 23:23

According to Day.Az, Vietnam Airlines' Boeing-777 en route from Paris-Hanoi emergency landed at the Heydar Aliyev International airport.

290 passengers and 17 crew members are safe.

According to preliminary reports the aircraft landed due to cockpit's window crack.