Barantin Chief Recounts Citilink Flight’s Aborted Take-off over Landing Gear Problem
Citilink flight QG1100, an ATR 72-600 operating from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, was unable to continue its departure from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta because of a landing-gear problem. Among its passengers was Abdul Kadir Karding, head of the Quarantine Agency (Barantin).
Karding said Presidential Advisory Council chair Pratikno was also on board. Karding, who is chairman of the executive board of the Indonesian Baseball and Softball Association (Perbasasi), was due to open a baseball event in Prambanan.
“We departed Halim at 6.55am. At the start, when the Citilink ATR we were on tried to take off, the first attempt failed. It then circled the airport once, around the circuit, and took off,” Karding said when contacted on Saturday (17 October 2026).
About 15 minutes into the flight, a cabin crew member informed passengers that there was a problem. Karding was asked to familiarise himself with how to open the emergency exit.
“The cabin crew member spoke to me because I happened to be sitting at the back, and asked me to be ready and learn how to open the emergency exit. I said, ‘Just give it to my ADC, who is a police officer, and so on.’ After circling around there, we were told that there was a possibility of a problem with a tyre,” he said.
Karding said the aircraft circled in the sky for about an hour before safely returning to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.
“There was a problem, particularly with the tyre. When we got off, there were staff spraying or cooling the tyre, and many personnel around the aircraft. We did not land near Halim’s terminal; we landed on a field some distance from the departure or arrivals area,” he said.
Karding said he was grateful to have escaped the incident unharmed and thanked the airline for landing the aircraft safely with all passengers on board.
Citilink responds
The airline has commented on flight QG1100, the ATR 72-600 service from Jakarta to Yogyakarta that was unable to continue its departure from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport that morning because of a landing-gear problem.
“The aircraft and all its passengers have landed safely back in Jakarta. The aircraft is now being handled by the relevant personnel for a comprehensive and thorough further inspection,” Citilink Corporate Secretary and CSR Group Head Tashia Scholz said in a statement on Saturday (17 October 2026).
The aircraft, scheduled to depart at 5.55am local time, carried out a return-to-base (RTB) procedure after a technical problem with one of its landing-gear wheels shortly after take-off. The flight was rescheduled for the afternoon via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
“The Jakarta-Yogyakarta flight is currently planned to depart again using a replacement Airbus A320 from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) to Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA). It is scheduled to depart at 11.00am local time and arrive in Yogyakarta at 12.40pm,” she said.
The airline apologised for the disruption. Tashia said passenger safety remained its top priority.