Story highlights The plane's electrical generator stopped working, the airline says

It was diverted to Hong Kong, where it landed safely

The flight was meant to go to Incheon airport in South Korea

Malaysia Airlines is in the spotlight over its missing Flight 370

A Malaysia Airlines flight to South Korea made an emergency landing in Hong Kong early Monday after its main electrical generator stopped working, the airline said.

The plane, an Airbus A330-300, landed in Hong Kong safely around 3 a.m., Malaysia Airlines said, and the 271 passengers on board have been transferred onto flights with other airlines.

The reason for the diversion of Malaysia Airlines Flight 066 was "an inoperative aircraft generator, which supplies normal electrical power," the company said. Electrical power continued to be supplied by the plane's auxiliary power unit, it said.

Malaysia Airlines is in the international spotlight following the disappearance more than two weeks ago of one of its passenger jets with 239 people on board. That plane, Flight 370, was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished over Southeast Asia.

The flight that was diverted Monday set off from Kuala Lumpur at 11:37 p.m. Sunday and was scheduled to arrive at 6:50 a.m. the next day at Incheon International Airport, the main airport serving the South Korean capital, Seoul.

Hong Kong airport said it received a call at 2:30 a.m. alerting it of the flight's urgent change of course and placed local teams on standby. The plane made its emergency landing without any problems about half an hour later.

The scheduled return flight from Incheon to Kuala Lumpur has been canceled, Malaysia Airlines said, and passengers have been placed on other flights.