Cathay Pacific flight heading to Penang forced to return to Hong Kong over ‘unusual smell’ in plane cabin

The Airbus A330 plane returned to Hong Kong International Airport at 8.53am and no passengers or crew members were injured, according to the airline.

Cathay Pacific said passengers on the flight were offered access to a lounge at the airport and given meal coupons, adding the group would be flown out on another plane at 12.30pm.

It said a full inspection of the aircraft in question would be conducted soon.

In October last year, a Cathay flight en route to Madrid, Spain was called back to Hong Kong over a “system anomaly” related to the aircraft.

In another incident during the same month, a Japan-bound flight with more than 290 passengers returned to the city after a cargo door on the aircraft was “found unlocked”.