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By Levon Sevunts | Posted: Monday, February 3, 2020
A Toronto-bound Air Canada plane made an emergency landing at Madrid’s international airport Monday after the aircraft experienced an engine problem and one of its ten tires reportedly ruptured shortly after takeoff.
“Air Canada flight AC837, Madrid to Toronto, landed safely at Madrid airport this evening and returned to the gate under its own power,” the carrier said in a statement.
Operating with just one of its two engines, the Boeing 767-300 with 128 passengers and eight crew members on board had circled for four hours southeast of Adolfo Suarez-Barajas airport “to use up fuel and lighten the aircraft for landing,” the airline said.
Air Canada said the aircraft is designed to be able to operate on one engine and “our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality.”
Nonetheless, an emergency was declared in order to obtain landing priority, the airline said.
“There are no reported injuries,” the airline said. “We have no further details on the cause at present.”
The crew and the passengers will be provided hotels and rebooked on other flights, Air Canada said.
Spain’s defence ministry said an F-18 fighter jet had been dispatched from a military airport near the Spanish capital to evaluate the damage done to the landing gear of the aircraft.
Emergency services including firefighting trucks and ambulances were deployed at the Spanish capital’s airport.
With files from The Associate Press
