An Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-300 veered off the runway while taxiing at Al Abraq International Airport (LAQ) in Beida, Libya earlier today.
The 11 year old aircraft, registered as 5A-ONQ, was operating a flight between Al Abraq International Airport (LAQ) in Beida and King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft veered off the runway while backtracking down the runway to line up for departure on Runway 10.
The The aircraft, which was delivered new to Afriqiyah Airways in 2014 before being leased to Turkish Airlines between 2015 and 2023, was operating as flight 8U1542 and was carrying pilgrims on a Hajj flight to Mecca.
While no details have been released regarding the number of passengers and crew onboard, the airline did confirm that no injuries or significant damage to the aircraft occurred. This is one of two Airbus A330s in the carriers fleet and it is outfitted with 28 Business Class and 263 Economy seats.
Al Abraq International Airport does not typically see service from large aircraft like the A330. The vast majority of commercial flights to and from the airport are operated by smaller Airbus A320 family aircraft. It is unclear if this was a factor in the incident.
Summary
An Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 veered off of the runway at Al Abraq International Airport in Libya while preparing for a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The aircraft was attempting to backtrack in order to line up for departure when the incident occurred. The Airbus A330 was operating a Hajj flight and is larger than the majority of the aircraft that utilize the airport. No injuries or major damage was reported by the airline.