by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:15 AM ET, Thu March 16, 2017
An electrical fire broke out at an Indonesian airport, engulfing the front end of a Garuda Indonesia plane in flames before emergency crews were able to control the blaze on Tuesday night.
Officials at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Banten, Indonesia, said service at the airport was not disrupted.
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According to The Jakarta Post, Garuda Indonesia airline employees were charging the Airbus A330-300 aircraft's power unit from a ground power unit at Terminal 3 of Soekarno Hatta International Airport when the GPU caught fire at 11.27 p.m. local time.
The fire spread to the front of the plane, but emergency crews were quickly on the scene and had the blaze under control in about 10 minutes. The plane was transported to Garuda Indonesia's maintenance, repair and overhaul hanger where it was inspected by officials.
Garuda Indonesia dispatched a backup aircraft to carry the passengers scheduled to fly on the damaged plane. There were no reported delays, and the backup aircraft flew the Jakarta-Singapore route as scheduled at 6:10 a.m. local time.
Garuda Indonesia vice president Benny S. Butarbutar said in an official statement that the airline would stop using similar ground power units until the formal investigation into the incident determined the cause of the fire.
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