A Flair Airlines plane with 134 passengers on board skidded off the runway in Waterloo on Friday morning.
The airline says Flair Airlines F8 501 from Vancouver to Kitchener-Waterloo “went off the runway” at Waterloo Region International Airport shortly after landing around 6:30 a.m.
Waterloo Regional Police told CP24 that one passenger was treated by paramedics at the scene for a “minor physical injury.”
No other injuries were reported.
Kitchener resident Paul Anstet was among the passengers aboard the flight.
He told CTV News Kitchener that it appeared the plane touched down a little further down the runway than usual and then couldn’t stop fast enough.
“I actually thought I was wondering if he (the pilot) was going to touch down and take off again, but he didn’t, he engaged and the reverse thrusters and the engine came on and we started to slow down.” But suddenly the plane danced on the runway. It was moving sideways and sure enough we ended up in the field,” he said. “I’m just happy it was level ground and there wasn’t a ditch or anything like that where people could have gotten hurt.”
Anstet said there was “no panic in the cabin at all” when the Boeing 737 veered off the runway.
He said that after the plane had stopped, the pilot made an announcement that there had been an “accident”. Shortly after, firefighters boarded the plane to check for casualties.
The passengers were then able to get off the plane and board a number of city buses that took them to the terminal.
Anstet, who regularly travels west on business, said the experience wouldn’t put him off flying Flair Airlines again. But he joked that there were some things the young budget airline could improve on.
“I just got a text from Flair asking me how my experience with Flair was today and I kind of laughed it off. I’ll probably respond and say the experience was good, but maybe it would be nice to be brought to the terminal instead of the field next time,” he said.
At this time, it remains unclear what caused the plane to go off the runway.
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board said it has a team of investigators to “gather information and assess the event.”
Meanwhile, the airport said it would be closed to commercial traffic until the end of Friday.
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