Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Newark to Detroit were evacuated from the aircraft via emergency slides on Thursday afternoon after the plane was forced to divert when the cabin started to fill with smoke.
The incident occurred on a 20-year-old Embraer E170 United Express jet operated by regional carrier Republic Airways shortly after takeoff from Newark Liberty International Airport on December 4.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aircraft made an emergency landing back to Newark where it landed safely at around 5:00 pm. After coming to a halt on the runway, the passengers were then evacuated via emergency slides.
The FAA said that the pilots had requested an emergency return to Newark at smoke was reported onboard.
Thankfully, there were no reported injuries during the evacuation. The emergency landing did, however, result in delays at Newark Airport, with some flights delayed by around an hour as a result of the incident.
United Airlines is already dealing with plenty of delays out of Newark as a result of air traffic controller shortages with more than 343,000 passengers disrupted in the month of November alone.
The carrier estimates that as many as 28,000 passengers per day are being impacted by delays, cancelations, long taxi times, and longer flight times at its Newark hub, which are direct results of air traffic control staffing issues.
United has urged the FAA to improve air traffic controller staffing, although the agency says it already has plans in place to get resources at its Philadelphia facility which handles traffic at Newark.
Thursday afternoon’s incident resulted in the FAA holding flight operations at Newark for nearly an hour while passengers were bussed to the terminal and the stricken aircraft was removed from the runway.
The cause of the smoke has not yet been established.
Commenting on the incident, a spokesperson for Indianapolis-based Republic Airways said: “The flight landed safely and taxied without incident to a ramp area where a controlled, precautionary evacuation was conducted by the crew.”
“We apologize to all affected for the inconvenience, but the safety of our passengers and crew will always be our highest priority, and we will always act to uphold that commitment.”
Republic Airways also provides regional flight services for American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
A couple of inconsistencies in this article:
1) It says it happened Thursday afternoon, which, as of my writing at 10:06 AM EST on Thursday hasn’t happened yet
2) The article states, “After coming to a halt on the runway, the passengers were then evacuated via emergency slides… resulted in the FAA holding flight operations at Newark for nearly an hour while… the stricken aircraft was removed from the runway.” Later the airline is quoted as saying, “The flight landed safely and taxied without incident to a ramp area where a controlled, precautionary evacuation was conducted by the crew.” Those cannot both be true.