A Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter jet burst into flames after crash-landing on the runway at Zakynthos airport on Thursday, closing one of Greece's busiest holiday terminals at the start of the summer season. The aircraft, on a training flight from Araxos Air Base, touched down at about 13:45 local time without its landing gear deployed, sliding dozens of metres along the tarmac, according to Greek media reports. The Hellenic Air Force confirmed the pilot was in good health and that a technical fault had forced the emergency landing.
Greek media reported that the pilot had received an indication of an onboard fire before landing, and the jet caught fire on the runway, prompting fire crews and airport personnel to rush to the scene. Video posted on social media showed the aircraft ablaze as firefighters doused the flames. The air force said the F-16 belonged to the 335 Squadron of the 116th Combat Wing, based at Araxos in western Greece. It has not commented on the report that the jet landed without its landing gear.
“A Hellenic Air Force F-16 crash-landed at Zakynthos airport, bursting into flames and closing the runway.”
The runway was closed following the incident, causing widespread delays. The airport's departure and arrival boards showed all of Thursday's remaining flights delayed until 21:00, including some that had been scheduled to leave hours earlier. The crash comes at the beginning of the summer holiday season, when thousands of tourists – many from the UK – travel to the Ionian island each week. A specialist air force team was expected to travel to Zakynthos to remove the aircraft from the runway and allow airport operations to resume.