Fright on flight
Airliner makes emergency landing in Cuba after fuel leak on trip to Jamaica
Published:Wednesday | March 1, 2023 | 1:34 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
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There was fright and anxiety among travellers of Swoop Flight WO646 from Toronto, Canada, en route to Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday as a fuel leak caused an emergency landing in Cuba. The flight was scheduled to land at the Norman Manley...
There was fright and anxiety among travellers of Swoop Flight WO646 from Toronto, Canada, en route to Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday as a fuel leak caused an emergency landing in Cuba.
The flight was scheduled to land at the Norman Manley International Airport at 2:03 p.m., having departed Pearson International at 9:05 a.m.
The reported fuel leak from one of the aircraft’s engines caused the pilot to exercise landing at the Varadero airport in Havana.
This was done without incident.
Ossan McKenzie, a passenger aboard the flight, told The Gleaner that while he was inconvenienced, he would not have it any other way because his safety and that of the other passengers was paramount.
“I’m here in the immigration lobby, waiting to hear from the airline. It’s a lot of Spanish speakers, so things are taking time … . The emergency landing was unavoidable, but my son and friends, who are looking out for me, got frustrated, but they understand,” McKenzie told The Gleaner from Varadero airport.
McKenzie, who has been away from his homeland for some time, said other travellers were simply tired and weary.
“The pilot was saying that fuel was leaking from one of the engines so they had to lock it off and emergency land … . We want hear the next move. The passengers just want to get going again,” McKenzie said.
Flight tracking platform Flight Radar 24 mapped the Boeing 737-8CT aircraft’s trek which flew over Cuba before returning for safe landing.
Senior adviser and chief strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright, told The Gleaner that he was aware of the incident on Tuesday.
A promised update was not received up to press time.
The Gleaner was reliably told that arrangements were being made to place passengers on a different aircraft.
The passengers were told last night that they would have to overnight in Cuba as efforts to get them to Jamaica failed to materialise.
Several attempts to get a response from the airline proved futile.
The ultra low-cost carrier Swoop made its inaugural flight from Canada to Jamaica in December 2018, landing at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, with 196 passengers on the maiden flight.
A high-level delegation, including Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and then Canadian High Commissioner Laurie Peters, greeted the passengers and flight crew on their arrival.