On the early morning of February 23rd, several netizens posted on social media that a Scoot flight from Xi’an to Singapore caught fire in the engine shortly after takeoff and had to return to the airport. Passengers on board the flight witnessed the flames coming out of the engine, causing them to be extremely frightened.
One netizen shared a video on the Douyin platform, stating that a Scoot aircraft bound for Singapore caught fire in the engine just ten minutes after takeoff and made a safe landing. “I was sitting right behind the engine and saw the flames shooting out like a rocket, which scared me half to death.”
Another netizen posted a video showing passengers disembarking from the Scoot plane with the livery, saying, “As the Scoot plane took off, the engine started emitting flames.”
According to reports from Jiupu News, a check on the “Flightradar24” app revealed that Scoot TR135 flight was originally scheduled to depart at 1:35 am on the 23rd, but it took off at 1:32 am and returned at 1:57 am. The aircraft operated on this flight was an Airbus A321-271N NEO ACF with a 3.8-year service age and registration number 9VNCB. The app also showed that the Scoot TR135 flight circled over Xi’an airspace twice before returning.
On the morning of the 23rd, inquiries were made to Scoot’s customer service in China to understand the situation. The staff member mentioned that the TR135 flight was indeed canceled that day. As for whether there was an engine fire and the subsequent arrangements for the passengers on that flight, they had not received any relevant information yet. Customer service in Singapore mentioned that the flight was rescheduled to February 24th, with the February 23rd flight being canceled, and they had not been informed of the reasons for the rescheduling or cancellation.
Customer service personnel at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport confirmed that the Scoot TR135 flight had to return after takeoff due to mechanical issues.
Public records indicate that Scoot is a long-haul, low-cost airline under the Singapore Airlines group, operating flights to various cities in China such as Harbin, Shenyang, Dalian, and Xi’an.