{"id":61051,"date":"2026-05-06T15:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61051\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:01:32","slug":"swiss-flight-diverts-to-kazakhstan-amid-co-pilot-medical-emergency-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/61051\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss flight diverts to Kazakhstan amid co-pilot medical emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"

A flight to Z\u00fcrich<\/a> made a diversion to Kazakhstan after the co-pilot experienced a medical emergency.<\/p>\n

Swiss<\/a> flight LX124 took off from Seoul<\/a> in South Korea just before 10am local time for a 12 and a half hour flight to Z\u00fcrich in Switzerland on Wednesday, 6 May.<\/p>\n

When flying over Kazakhstan, just over six hours into the flight, the Airbus A350<\/a> took a sharp turn south over the Karaganda region and diverted its course to the country\u2019s largest city, Almaty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plane landed at Almaty International airport just before 1pm local time.<\/p>\n

Swiss confirmed the incident, stating that the unscheduled landing occurred due to a \u201cmedical emergency involving the co-pilot\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the condition of the co-pilot was not specified, the airline said that there were three doctors on board who were able to provide medical assistance.<\/p>\n

Based on the recommendation of the doctors, the crew decided to divert the flight to Almaty so that the pilot could receive medical care as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

Upon landing, Swiss said the ill co-pilot was immediately taken to hospital accompanied by another crew member.<\/p>\n

The 227 passengers and a further 12 crew members have been given hotel stays in Almaty, with Swiss adding that an additional pilot will travel today to the city to finish the journey to Z\u00fcrich.<\/p>\n

Although there are two other pilots within the current crew, Swiss said the flight cannot continue today \u201cfor regulatory and safety-related reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is because the two other pilots are captains and strict regulations mean that the flight requires a pilot specifically qualified to operate from the co-pilot\u2019s right-hand seat.<\/p>\n

In addition to this, continuing the flight would have meant the crew would have exceeded the legally prescribed maximum duty times before the plane reached Z\u00fcrich.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully understand that the unscheduled landing in Almaty and the necessary stay there are causing inconvenience to our guests and affecting their travel plans. We sincerely regret this. At the same time, we kindly ask for understanding that the health and wellbeing of our colleague are the top priority in this situation,\u201d Swiss said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams are doing everything possible to support all those affected during this extraordinary situation. They are proactively informing our guests about the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the crew has rested and the additional pilot arrives, the airline said the flight will continue to Zurich, with the plane expected to depart from Almaty at 1.45am local time, with arrival in Zurich scheduled for Friday morning, 8 May, at 6.30am.<\/p>\n

Read more: Flight forced to make unscheduled landing after unusual smell detected on board<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A flight to Z\u00fcrich made a diversion to Kazakhstan after the co-pilot experienced a medical emergency. Swiss flight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[33695,33693,33694,41,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-61051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-almaty","9":"tag-almaty-international-airport","10":"tag-medical-emergency","11":"tag-swiss","12":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116528236900230960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}