A Sunwing Boeing 737 MAX 8 got stuck on a runway in Cuba, causing the airport to temporarily shut down. The plane was getting ready to take off from Holguin Frank Pais Airport and head to Montreal, but things didn't go as planned. While lining up on the runway, the plane's right landing gear sank into the asphalt, and just like that, the aircraft couldn't move.
People were quick to post videos of the stuck plane on what used to be Twitter, showing it just sitting there on the runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration didn't waste any time. They issued a warning through their notification system at 10:09 p.m. local time on August 30, 2023, telling everyone that the airport was closed until further notice. The good news is, that the notice was lifted by noon the next day.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24.com showed that the airport was less busy than usual. On August 30, only four flights were tracked even though ten were scheduled. That's a drop from the previous week when seven out of nine scheduled flights were tracked.
As for future plans, three flights are set to depart from the airport on August 31, the earliest being a VivaAerobus flight to Cancun. Also, a Condor flight managed to take off for Montego Bay in Jamaica at 5:56 p.m. local time on August 30, after the runway drama had been sorted.
Sunwing released a statement via email, saying, "While taxiing for takeoff, the aircraft veered off the runway at Frank Pais Airport in Holguin, Cuba. Thankfully, no one was hurt, either among the passengers or the crew." They also mentioned that stranded passengers were given overnight accommodations and that they informed the relevant authorities about the incident, as is standard procedure.
Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737MAX8 (C-GMXH, built 2019) rolled off the paved part of the line-up area of runway 23 during taxi for take-off at Holguin Intl Airport(MUHG), Cuba. The right maingear of flight #WG645 to Montreal broke in the pavement and the 737 became stuck as a… pic.twitter.com/e0BvVG9E4e
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) August 30, 2023
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