Emirates aircraft fail to land at Chileka to lack of power
Passengers on a plane from Lilongwe to Blantyre had a rude awakening on Friday evening as the plane returned to the Capital City after 40 minutes mid air because it could not land at Chileka International Airport because the runway hadno electricity. 
One of the passengers said the plane stayed in the air for about 40 minutes while authorities tried to rectify the problem, but to no avail and had to fly back to Lilongwe.
Authorities are yet to speak on the matter.
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) said earlier a system shutdown which happened just before midday on Friday had resulted in loss of electricity supply to most parts of the country.
In a statement, Escom assured that efforts to restore supply started instantly and werestill underway.
Meanwhile, Malawians will have to wait a little longer before they start enjoying direct flights between Lilongwe and Dubai.
In October last year, President Lazarus Chakwera held a meeting with Emirates Airlines’ Vice President responsible for Cargo Operations in Africa, Khalid Hinai and hinted on the possibility of the deal.
Emirates Airlines, already operates a weekly cargo flight to Lilongwe-Malawi.
However, Malawi is unable to fully utilise the available space on the return flight because the country does not export much.
According to the Director of Civil Aviation at the Department of Civil Aviation, James Chakwera, there is no new information from the Emirates team on their intention to start, or rather add more services to Malawi.
He has revealed that Malawi already has an Air Services Agreement with the United Arab Emirates, so any air operator from the Middle East country can launch flights to Malawi under the same and that carriers from Malawi can also operate to the UAE, for both passengers and cargo.
