After Aircraft Incident, Halifax Airport Resumes Flights Despite Weather and Closed Runway, Expect Delays

December 29, 2024 TruthUSA

Flights have resumed at Halifax Stanfield International Airport following an aircraft landing incident on Saturday night, Dec. 28, although some closed runways may cause delays, the airport said.

The incident took place around 9:30 p.m., when Air Canada Express Flight 2259, operated by PAL Airlines, encountered a “suspected landing gear issue” upon arriving from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, as per an Air Canada spokesperson interviewed by The Epoch Times on Dec. 29.

“The cause is currently unknown, and the TSB [Transportation Safety Board] will be conducting an investigation, as is standard protocol with transport incidents,” the spokesperson stated. PAL and Air Canada are set to assist in the TSB’s investigation.

Videos, seemingly captured from inside the plane and now circulating online, depict the landing gear issue causing the aircraft to tilt to the left, resulting in a fire as the wing skidded along the runway.

The flight was carrying 73 passengers, with no injuries reported, according to Air Canada. The airline is awaiting the TSB to release the aircraft so belongings can be returned to the customers.

The incident led to the temporary closure of the Halifax airport’s airfield. Flights had resumed by 10 a.m. the next day, with the airport cautioning that weather conditions might lead to delays as one of the runways remained closed.

“Travellers are advised to verify their flight status directly with their airline or on our website prior to heading to the airport,” the airport shared in a separate post on Dec. 29.

Fatal Incidents

The incident in Halifax on Dec. 28 was followed by a tragic plane crash in South Korea the next day, where the plane caught fire after a failed landing at Muan International Airport. A total of 179 individuals lost their lives, according to the country’s fire agency.

This death toll is an update from the information provided by the country’s transport ministry in a previous post on X, revealing that among the 181 individuals on board—175 passengers and 6 crew members—the confirmed casualties were 177 deceased, 2 injured, and 2 missing. The transport ministry also specified that the plane was completely burnt, and two flight attendants were rescued and taken to a hospital.

The crash happened shortly after 9 a.m. local time.

Investigators reported that the landing gear of the Boeing 737-800 jet malfunctioned and failed to deploy during the second landing attempt, resulting in the pilots executing a belly landing near the end of the runway. However, the aircraft couldn’t decelerate, overshot the runway, crashed into a fence at the airport’s perimeter, and subsequently exploded.

Authorities investigating the incident are considering a bird collision as the cause of the malfunction.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216 was en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, located about 300 kilometres south of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. The group of passengers included two Thai citizens, as per the post from the South Korean transport ministry. The remainder are presumed to be South Korean citizens.

Another fatal incident took place earlier in the week on Dec. 25, involving an Azerbaijani airliner that crash-landed in Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev stated on Dec. 29 that the aircraft was inadvertently shot down by Russia. The crash resulted in the death of 38 out of the 67 individuals on board.

Melanie Sun contributed to this report.

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