Flights cancelled after WestJet plane slides off Halifax runway

Jan 5 2020, 7:49 pm

A WestJet plane that had just landed in Halifax from Toronto Sunday slid off the runway amid snowy weather in Atlantic Canada.

WestJet tweeted around 2 pm local time that its flight 248 had “experienced an incident” and “departed the end of the runway after landing normally.”

“I’d compare this to driving your car on a snowy road and you slip and slide onto a grassy shoulder,” said Eric Wynne, a passenger on the plane.

He said the plane slid off the runway, ending up about 50 metres from the tarmac in a grassy buffer zone.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Eric Wynne (@photogeek59) on

Nobody was injured, and all passengers on board the flight were safely transported to the terminal building using shuttle buses, according to WestJet and the Halifax Stanfield airport.

WestJet has cancelled several other flights between St. John’s, Halifax, and Toronto while it deals with the issue.

“It was a little surreal,” Wynne said of the experience. He added that the flight crew handled it well, and he’s glad everybody made it out okay.

The luggage was left on the plane while crews investigate, and passengers filled out forms to be reunited with their bags at a later time, Wynne said.

 

ADVERTISEMENT