An Air Canada aircraft caught fire during a failed landing at Halifax airport Saturday night.
At around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 28, Air Canada Express Flight 2259 skidded down the runway, with part of the aircraft catching fire, shutting down airport operations for 90 minutes, according to an update shared by the airport.
“The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows,” passenger Nikki Valentine shared in an interview with CBC News.
Video shared by passengers capture dramatic bursts of flame erupting from the aircraft wing as it scrapes the runway.
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick tells CBC News the plane experienced a “suspected landing gear issue” after arrival Saturday night and the aircraft was unable to reach the terminal and the crew and 73 passengers were offloaded by bus.
Fitzpatrick stated that no one on board was injured, but a Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson, who responded alongside paramedics, reported minor injuries.
BREAKING: A PAL flight from St. John’s to Halifax had landing gear failure upon landing.
All souls on board were evacuated with no serious injuries reported. All incoming flights being diverted to Moncton and Montreal.#Halifax Airport is CLOSED pic.twitter.com/dmnvbYY5xx
— Ian Seggie (@IanSeggie) December 29, 2024
The airport shared one of its runways has since reopened and cleared to resume regular service.
The failed Air Canada landing is the latest in a series of serious aviation incidents this week, following a passenger jet crash in South Korea just hours earlier that claimed 179 lives.
Tragedy also struck on Christmas Day, when an Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 of the 67 people on board.
