The A320 aircraft of the private airline Qanot Sharq, operating Istanbul to Samarkand flight, made an emergency landing on Monday evening at the airport of the small town of Merzifon in the northern Turkish province of Amasya.
According to data from the FlighRadar24 service, less than an hour after takeoff, the crew signaled an abnormal situation on board, and the aircraft (registration number UK32031) began to descend.
Haberler Ozel writes that the cause was a drop in cabin pressure. The plane, which had 152 people on board (other media write about 149 passengers and 3 crew members), landed safely. The passengers were accommodated in the terminal.
Merzifon is located 565 km from Istanbul and 325 km from Ankara.
Update
Qanot Sharq Airlines has announced in an official statement that it would soon set up a reserve flight to transport passengers from Merzifon to Samarkand.
The company has cancelled a number of flights on August 27:
HH-741, Samarkand to St. Petersburg;
HH-744, St. Petersburg to Namangan;
HH-743, Namangan to St. Petersburg;
HH-742, St. Petersburg to Samarkand.
Passengers will be refunded the price of their tickets and provided with one free ticket per year for similar destinations.
