An Eastern Airlines aircraft skidded off the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri yesterday afternoon, after landing with more than 200 Guyanese who had been stranded in New York.
The incident occurred around 2.30pm. At the time, 201 passengers and 10 crew members were onboard the Boeing 767 aircraft. They subsequently disembarked the aircraft and were escorted to the terminal. No injury was reported.
The incident resulted in the calcellation of an outbound flight to Miami. The flight was scheduled to depart Guyana something last evening.
Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Lt. Col. (ret’d) Egbert Field yesterday told Stabroek News that an investigation has since been launched to determine the cause of the incident.
Reports are that while the aircraft was taxiing along the runway, it skidded off causing its wheels to stick.
“….It landed and after landing, it left the runway and turned onto the taxiway and while on the taxiway, taxiing to the terminal, the right wheels departed from the paved section of the taxiway onto the soft grassy portion of the side of the taxiway,” Field explained.
There was no damage to the aircraft.
Meanwhile, Shunza Samuels, Public Relations Officer of the CJIA in a statement yesterday afternoon said that a quick response by airport authorities resulted in the situation being remedied.
In light of the travel restrictions in place due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak here, Eastern Airlines has been regularly operating repatriation flight between Guyana and the US.
