KARACHI: An abandoned aircraft that crash-landed at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport in 2011 began an unusual journey by road to Hyderabad today, Wednesday, where it will be used for teaching purposes at an aviation institute, a spokesman for the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said on Tuesday.

The PAA plans to transport the 40-ton aircraft from the port city of Karachi, via the National Highway, to the Civil Aviation Training Institute (CATI) in the southern Pakistani city of Hyderabad. On its journey, the plane will pass through several densely populated areas of Karachi, the country’s largest and most populated city, including Steel Town and Bin Qasim Town.

“The aircraft is set to be transferred from Karachi to the Civil Aviation Training Institute (CATI) in Hyderabad for aviation training,” PAA spokesperson Saifullah said, with the journey set to begin at 4am PST.

The MD-83 aircraft, registered as SU-BOZ, was taking 74 passengers from Tabuk city in Saudi Arabia to the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta when it made the emergency landing in Karachi on Dec. 25, 2011.

Footage of the plane’s landing, widely shared on social media, shows the AMC Airlines flight touching down at Jinnah International Airport without its nose gear deployed. Smoke billowed from the plane as it skidded along the runway.

Despite multiple attempts, the nose landing gear failed to deploy, forcing the pilot to land the plane on its belly. No injuries were reported.

The incident led to the closure of the Karachi airport runway for several hours.

“The aircraft was abandoned by the operating airlines and is now embarking on a new journey [to Hyderabad] for use for training purposes,” the PAA spokesperson added.

This is the second aircraft to be transported by road from Karachi to Hyderabad for training purposes in recent weeks.

Last month, the journey by road of a decommissioned Boeing 737 from Karachi to Hyderabad also caught the media spotlight in Pakistan.