A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight, enroute to Lahore from Jeddah, diverted and made an emergency landing at Dammam airport after signalling an onboard emergency.

Flight PK860 was scheduled to land at Lahore airport at 8pm, however, it diverted to Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport due to a technical issue, said the PIA spokesperson.

The Boeing 777 aircraft had 437 passengers on board, excluding the crew. While still in Saudi airspace, the aircraft switched its transponder frequency to 7700 — signifying a general emergency.

The ‘7700 squawk’ is an aviation term for when a pilot sets an aircraft’s transponder code to 7700, alerting air traffic control to an emergency on board.

It signifies a serious issue, such as engine trouble or a medical emergency, and makes the plane a high-priority for immediate attention and assistance.

The plane landed safely at Dammam airport and is undergoing checks by engineering staff on the ground, confirmed the PIA spokesperson. The airline did not elaborate on the nature of the emergency.

The airline also did not comment further on passenger facilitation or the time needed before the flight resumes its journey to its destination.

In September 2019, a PIA flight from Lahore to Jeddah was delayed due to a “technical fault” in the aircraft, a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson denied media reports that the plane had caught fire and said that the plane made an emergency landing soon after a technical fault was detected.

About 200 passengers were onboard PK759 when it took off at 9:30am. The flight was scheduled to take off at 12pm in a different aircraft.

“PIA’s staff is taking care of the passengers in the airport lounge,” the spokesperson said.

On November 3 this year, aircraft engineers represented by the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP) refused to issue clearance certificates to aircraft, because of which hundreds of passengers were stranded at different airports due to long delays in the flights, especially those scheduled for Saudi Arabia.

According to SAEP representatives, the protest was carried out over two primary issues: salary disparities, safety and the unavailability of spare parts.

The next day, PIA said it restored flight operations with some alternate arrangements after delays due to what it called a “strike”, but the SAEP stated there was no strike from their side and the engineers were only adhering to mandatory safety and certification protocols.

However, on November 6, SAEP President Abdullah Jadoon and Secretary General Awais Jadoon were dismissed from service.