El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca
James Field - Editor in Chief 4 Min Read
4 Min Read

An El Al Boeing 737-800 has declared an emergency in the last few moments and is diverting to Larnaca, Cyprus.

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

At this stage, it is unclear what the nature of the emergency is.

The El Al Boeing 737-800 was operating LY383 to Rome from Tel Aviv.

This is a developing story.

UPDATE #1 @ 1810 local time – El Al Flight 383 is descending through FL210, with Paphos, Cyprus, looking like the diversion airport thus far.

UPDATE #2 @ 1811 local time – El AL Flight 383 is being operated by 4X-EKI, one of the carrier’s Boeing 737-86N. The aircraft age is 24 years at the time of writing.

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

UPDATE #3 @ 1815 local time – El Al Flight 383 has stopped its descent at FL180, Paphos still looking likely at this current moment. Stay tuned.

UPDATE #4 @ 1818 local time – El Al Flight 383 is now diverting to Larnaca, Cyprus instead, as per data from @RadarBoxCom.

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

UPDATE #5 @ 1820 local time – LY383 is descending through 14,000 feet and is about to over-fly Paphos for its diversion into Larnaca.

UPDATE #6 @ 1823 local time – 4X-EKI started out life with North American Airlines in February 1999.

It was then delivered to El Al in March 2002 and was transferred to Sun d’Or International Airlines in April 2015 before returning back to El Al in August 2019.

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

UPDATE #6 @ 1825 local time – LY383 continues its descent, passing 10,000 feet as it continues its approach into Larnaca.

UPDATE #7 @ 1826 local time – The reason why the El Al aircraft opted for Larnaca is that the runway length is greater than in Paphos.

El Al Boeing 737-800 Diverts To Larnaca

UPDATE #8 @ 1829 local time – LY383 is on final approach for Runway 04 into Larnaca Airport, Cyprus.

UPDATE #9 @ 1835 UK time – LY383 appeared to have safely landed at Larnaca Airport, Cyprus, following its 7700 squawk transmission. It is unclear when the aircraft will either be continuing onto Rome or returning back to Tel Aviv.

UPDATE #10 @ 1837 UK time – Still no indication of the cause of the emergency. AviationSource will approach the airline for comment on the incident.

UPDATE #11 @ 1843 UK time – Getting unconfirmed reports of smoke in the cockpit for LY383. Aircraft has remained on the exit point of the runway.

UPDATE #12 @ 1845 UK time – Acquiring reports that LY383 has taxied to the engine run area of the airport, away from the passenger terminal.

UPDATE #13 @ 1854 UK time – What we know so far:

+ El Al Flight LY383 was a scheduled flight between Tel Aviv and Rome.

+ It reached a cruise altitude of 36,000 feet. At 18:01UTC, it began to head east and descend, followed by the Squawk 7700 occurring at 18:02UTC.

+ It was then revealed that the diversion airport would be Larnaca, Cyprus.

+ LY383 then landed on Larnaca’s Runway 04 at 1835UTC and then proceeded to the engine run-up area.

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