Canadian transportation authorities are investigating an incident in which an Air Canada Express flight suffered a landing gear problem after landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Saturday night.
CNN – An Air Canada Express flight “experienced a suspicious problem with the landing gear” after arriving at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia on Saturday night, although there were no injuries, according to the airline.
Flight AC2259 – which took off from St. John’s, Newfoundland – was subsequently “unable to reach the terminal and customers were disembarked using a bus,” Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said in statements to CNN. The flight, operated by partner PAL Airlines, carried 73 passengers, according to the statement.
The plane – a De Havilland DHC-8-402, according to Canada’s Transportation Safety Board – skidded off the runway a “decent” distance and passengers saw flames on the left side of the plane, passenger Nikki Valentine told CBC, CNN’s news gathering partner.
“The plane shook a little bit and we started to see fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in through the windows,” Valentine said.
The Halifax incident echoed a much more serious – and deadly – incident in South Korea on Sunday morning local time, when a Jeju Air flight crashed at Muan International Airport, killing 179 people. According to authorities and aviation experts, it is likely that the incident was caused by a failure of the landing gear.
While no one was injured in Halifax in a statement, Air Canada says it understands “that this incident has been upsetting to customers and we remain available to assist them.”
The airport was closed for about 90 minutes before one of the two runways was opened for flight operations, Tiffany Chase, spokeswoman for the Halifax International Airport Authority, said in a statement.
“Four flights were diverted and there were a series of cancellations and delays while the airport was closed,” he added.
The incident will be investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which, in a notice Sunday, said it was sending a team of investigators to the airport.
The cause of the suspected landing gear problem is unknown, the airline said, adding: “Out of respect for the investigation process, we cannot speculate and have no additional information to provide at this time.”
