Flair Airlines plane overshoots regional landing at Waterloo Airport

Commercial flights in and out of the Waterloo International Airport region were canceled on Friday after a Flair Airlines plane carrying 140 people overran the runway on landing.

A Flair Airlines spokesperson says Flight F8 501 from Vancouver to Kitchener-Waterloo “went off the runway at the end of landing.”

according to to a flight followerthe plane landed around 6:25 am

The airline says there were no injuries, and passengers were taken to the terminal by bus.

There were 134 passengers and six crew on board the Boeing 737.

The Transport Safety Board (TSB) has been deployed to investigate.

‘WOW, WE LOST THE TRACK’

One of those passengers, Kitchener resident Paul Anstett, says he was catching a red-eye flight home after being in Vancouver on business.

Anstett says he was looking out the window of the plane and felt something different when it was time to land.

Passengers from Flair Airlines Flight F8 501 crash-landed on the grass at Waterloo Regional International Airport on November 25, 2022. (Amanda Ramnarine/Submitted)

“The plane was dancing a bit on the runway. It was moving from side to side,” he told CTV News.

Anstett says that although the landing felt “a little bouncy” most of the passengers around him seemed calm and there was no screaming or panic inside the cabin.

“Oops, we lost track,” Anstett said. “I looked at the person next to me, and I said, ‘we’re on the grass.’

He says he’s thankful the field they landed on was level and no one was injured.

As of noon Friday, the plane remains on the airport’s grass. (Submission/Lou Ferrigno)

According to Anstett, passengers were able to carry personal cabin baggage inside the cabin, but checked baggage was not unloaded from the plane.

“So they will deliver [it]or we have to go get it,” he said.

Anstett, who travels west once a year, says the experience won’t stop him from flying Flair Airlines again. But he joked that there are some things the entry-level budget airline could improve on.

“I just got a text from Flair asking ‘how was my Flair experience today’ and I laughed. I’ll probably reply and say it was a good experience, but it would be nice if next time they took me to the terminal instead of the field,” he said. yours.

Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board arrived at the airport around 9:30 am

It is unclear at this time what caused the plane to go off the runway.

Waterloo International Airport was closed to commercial traffic all day Friday. Other Flair Airlines flights arriving and departing from YKF, as well as two West Jet flights, were cancelled.