Right Engine Caught Fire During Taxi

A China Airlines 737-800 carrying 157 passengers caught fire after landing at Naha airport in Okinawa, Japan early Monday. While taxiing to the gate, the 737's right engine caught fire and flames quickly spread.

All 165 people on board were evacuated safely, the carrier said. Johnson Sun, a spokesman for Taipei-based China Airlines said terrorism was ruled out as a cause, according to CNN.

Evacuations were carried out via emergency chutes according to video aired on Taiwan TVBS television. It reportedly shows people fleeing across the tarmac as flames engulfed the fuselage. The entire aircraft was evacuated within 90 seconds according to Akihiko Tamura, director of Japan's Civil Aviation bureau.

This incident aggravates uncomfortable focus on the carrier, which has had four fatal accidents in the last 14 years killing more than 1,000 people. The carrier had jets go down in 1994, 1998, 1999, and 2002.

"This will benefit EVA Airways, as passengers turn to the airline's nearest rival because of safety concerns," said Stone Lin, a securities analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities in Taipei.

The cause of the fire is not immediately apparent. According to Sun, there were no problems reported at any time during the flight.

The 737 (type shown above, right) had CFM International CFM56-7B26 engines. CFM56-7B series engines entered service on 737-800s in the first quarter of 1998, according to CFM's Web site. CFM is a venture between General Electric Co. and Snecma SA.

The right engine was last inspected July 13 with no known faults, said Lee Wan-lee, Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration director of operations, and had 13,666 flight hours at the time of the inspection.

"We are not in a position to comment ahead of an investigation," Antoinette Menard, a Paris-based CFM spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Naha airport was reopened about an hour after the fire, said Japan Airlines Corp spokesperson Soichi Yatsugi.

FMI: www.china-airlines.com, www.mlit.go.jp