CAIRO: An air disaster was averted yesterday when a Saudi Arabian Airlines Airbus 300 crash-landed at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport after developing a technical glitch, Saudi aviation officials said in a statement. Khaled Al-Khaibary, spokesman for the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), said the pilot radioed the control tower after the plane's landing gear malfunctioned. An alert was declared immediately and arrangements were made for belly landing – without landing gear. The plane landed safely. There were only 10 crew members on board the chartered flight from Medina. Saudi Arabian Airlines is state-owned and receives heavily-subsidized fuel to help keep it competitive in a time of high fuel costs.