A Boeing 787 full of passengers was stranded in the Canadian Arctic after a burning smell forced an emergency landing
Francois LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
- An Air France plane diverted after a burning smell was detected in the cabin.
- It landed in a remote town in the Canadian Arctic province of Nunavut.
- The airline had to cancel a different flight to reroute a Boeing 777 to rescue the passengers.
Air France has been working to get passengers back on track after their plane made an emergency landing in the Arctic on Tuesday.
The Boeing 787 flying from Paris to Seattle was over northern Canada when a burning smell was detected in the cabin, the airline told CBC.
The pilots declared an emergency and diverted to the nearest airport. This happened to be in Iqaluit, the capital of Canada's Nunavut territory, which has a population of less than 8,000.
Iqaluit, formerly known as Frobisher Bay, lies in the region known as the Canadian Arctic, though it is just outside the true Arctic Circle.
Air France #AF338 Boeing 787-9 landed in Iqaluit pic.twitter.com/cyZbAXnJYh Updates: https://t.co/IYNXYJypRg
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) May 7, 2024
Data from Flightradar24 shows a different plane was rerouted to rescue the passengers. The Boeing 777 was scheduled to fly from Montreal to Paris, but that flight was canceled.
Nearly 11 hours after the passengers had landed in Iqaluit, the 777 departed for New York.
CBC reported that passengers will be rerouted from New York as soon as possible. Flightradar24 shows the 777 was scheduled to fly from New York to Seattle early Wednesday morning, but this was canceled.
In a statement sent to the travel news site Paddle Your Own Kanoo, Air France said it "regrets the inconvenience caused by this situation and reiterates that the safety of its customers and crews is its absolute imperative."
The 787 Dreamliner is still in Iqaluit. CBC reported that it is grounded while crews investigate what caused the burning smell.
Last December, 270 Delta Air Lines passengers had to sleep overnight in a Canadian military barracks after a diversion. Two more planes landed to bring them back on course.