Qantas flight lands safely in Sydney after issuing mayday

A Qantas Airways Ltd. flight from Auckland to Sydney landed safely after experiencing engine trouble and issuing a mayday alert over the Tasman Sea.

Qantas said the Boeing Co. 737 touched down at Sydney Airport at about 3:30 p.m. local time Wednesday and the 145 passengers disembarked normally. Emergency crews were on standby. The aircraft is being assessed by engineers. 

Flight QF144 was about an hour from Sydney when it experienced an issue with one of its engines. The initial mayday was downgraded to a PAN, meaning that assistance would possibly be needed, Qantas said.  

“While in-flight engine shutdowns are rare, and would naturally be concerning for passengers, our pilots are trained to manage them safely and aircraft are designed to fly for an extended period on one engine,” Qantas said in a statement. 

The flight was the most tracked worldwide on FlightRadar24, with some 135,000 people following its progress as it approached Sydney.