UNITED AIRLINES DIVERSION LEADS TO PROCEDURAL CHANGES
March 6, 2019
A United Airlines (United) flight from Newark, New Jersey to Hong Kong was forced to land at Goose Bay Airport in Newfoundland, Canada following an onboard medical emergency. After landing, a cargo door failure prevented the aircraft from departing Goose Bay. Passengers spent 16 hours on the tarmac inside the Boeing 777 due to insufficient customs staffing to facilitate deplaning and a lack of local technicians who could fix the cargo door. A variety of factors, including a winter storm on the U.S. East Coast and limits on crew working hours, affected how quickly United could dispatch a backup plane to rescue the passengers. United stated that it failed to keep the passengers well-informed as the situation evolved, including by telling them that a backup plane would arrive many hours before it actually did.
United announced in February that it was changing its procedures in response to the incident. In addition to reviewing the skills of local maintenance staff, the airline said it would only use Goose Bay Airport for emergency landings, while diversions for less urgent situations will be taken to other, better-equipped airports in the region.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6622); Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6665), or Alexander Matthews (amatthews@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6633).
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