WK92 - Incident: Edelweiss A343 at Cartagena on Mar 24th 2024

An Edelweiss Airbus A340-300, registration HB-JMD performing flight WK-92 from Cartagena (Colombia) to Zurich (Switzerland) with 314 passengers and 13 crew, was climbing out of Cartagena when the crew stopped the climb at 8000 feet due to smoke in the cabin and decided to divert to Barranquilla (Colombia) for a safe landing about 30 minutes later.

The airline reported according to preliminary findings the cause of the smoke was a defect in the air conditioning system. There was no fire.

The aircraft positioned back to Zurich on Mar 26th 2024 cruising at FL370, FL390 and FL410 and returned to service on Mar 29th 2024.

According to information The Aviation Herald received there was a loud bang heard, then the cabin filled with heavy smoke and odour. Colombia's Authorities pulled the black boxes and opened an investigation, suspecting a catastrophic failure of the #2 pack.

On Apr 2nd 2024 Switzerland's SUST reported: "After take-off at Cartagena airport the crew encountered smoke in the cockpit and the cabin. The flight crew put their quick donning masks on and diverted to Baranquilla airport (SKBQ). The aircraft landed after 23 minutes of flight time. No injuries reported." Colombia's Aerocivil opened an investigation into the occurrence.