Over 200 Delta passengers passed the night on a chilly and remote Canadian military base after their Detroit-bound plane made an emergency landing owing to a mechanical issue.
A spokesperson for the airline told reporters that Delta flight 135 from Amsterdam to Detroit was diverted to Goose Bay, Newfoundland recently “out of an abundance of caution.”
Passengers told CBS Evening News that the plane encountered a problem with its de-icing mechanism for one of its engines and had to make an emergency landing somewhere with an airstrip long enough to accommodate the large aircraft.
The passengers had to wait for over 20 hours to continue their journey to Michigan in the nightmarish scenario.
Nathan Johnson, one of the passengers, said after the emergency landing at the Goose Bay Airport, the travelers waited on the tarmac for five to seven hours before another plane arrived to transport them to Detroit.
Johnson, another passenger said when the second plane arrived and everyone boarded, they were informed that the flight crew had timed out of workable hours and they would all need to leave the plane that just arrived.
He said after a few hours at the barracks, buses came to convey the passengers to a third plane and their flight eventually left the Canadian base at 5 p.m., with snow falling outside.
In a statement, Delta Air said: “Crew duty times were impacted due to weather and runway conditions at the Goose Bay airport causing the airport to suspend operations.
“Delta sent additional aircraft to Goose Bay to bring customers to their final destination Monday.”
The airline said affected customers will be compensated for the long delay.
