Thessaloniki International Airport - Incidents

Incidents

• On 12 August 1997, Olympic Airways Flight 171, a Boeing 727-200 registered as SX-CBI inbound from Ellinikon International Airport, overran the runway and crashed into the sea. None of the 35 passengers and crew were killed but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

• On 17 December 1997, Aerosvit Flight 241, a Yakovlev Yak-42, operating the route from Odessa, Ukraine to Thessaloniki, lost contact with the airport's air traffic control and during the second attempt the aircraft crashed in the Pierian mountains, near Mount Olympus. A total of 70 people, passengers and crew, 41 of which were Greeks, were killed.

• On 4 July 2000, HA-LCR, a chartered Malév Flight 262 Tu-154 landed on its belly. The crew had forgotten to lower the undercarriage and the plane skidded 400 metres (440 yards) on the runway. Thanks to the plane's robust construction and the engines' high position, the plane was able to become airborne again as the pilots applied full throttle. It circled while the crew lowered the undercarriage and landed safely. There were no injuries. It was considered uneconomical to repair the aircraft. The aircraft still remains on site, although airline markings have been obscured and heavily depleted of re-usable spares.

• On 22 January 2010, a SunExpress plane flying from Germany to Turkey carrying 69 passengers made a safe emergency landing in "Macedonia". According to a Greek civil aviation official who declined to be named, the pilot had received a bomb threat call on his mobile phone.