An Airbus A321 has suffered damage after sliding off a runway in Southern Brazil this morning. The LATAM flight landed in heavy rains because the region faces an extra-tropical cyclone alert following a devastating storm last month.
The incident resulted within the closure of Florianópolis International Airport – Hercílio Luz (FLN), with flights canceled for the rest of the day.
What happened?
The LATAM flight LA3300 departed São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) this morning at 08:20, arriving in Florianopolis at 09:20. The aircraft landed safely on runway 32 and proceeded to taxi to the terminal. Heavy rain on the destination resulted in a slick runway and taxi surface. The Airbus A321 (PT-MXM) began its taxi and will be seen in a video of the incident losing direction control because it proceeded down the pavement.
The Airbus then veered to the left because it slowed down, with reverse thrusters activated. The aircraft slid forwards and to the left before the nose of the plane got here entirely off the taxiway into the grass.
Photos of the incident show the front half of the fuselage off the runway. The narrowbody’s essential landing gear on the proper side appears to have broken through the pavement off the proper edge and sunk into the weaker hard shoulder strip.
Was anyone injured?
Emergency services immediately responded to the incident, and a mobile staircase was dropped at the side of the aircraft to disembark the passengers.
All those onboard got a whole medical evaluation once safely deplaned. A spokesperson for LATAM Airlines Brasil confirmed there have been no injuries to any passengers or crewmembers when reached for comment by Easy Flying:
“LATAM reinforces that each one 172 passengers and seven crew members of flight LA 3300 (São Paulo/Guarulhos-Florianópolis) were safely disembarked and released after evaluation by the medical team. The motion was taken after the incident with the Airbus A321 aircraft (PT-MXM), which exceeded the runway limits on landing on the Santa Catarina airport.”
The airline further confirmed that it’s in coordination with the competent authorities and that each one available official information might be disclosed through Twitter and its official website.
What happens next?
The airport, which serves the capital of the State of Santa Catarina, stays closed as of press time. A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that LATAM has already dispatched its Recovery Team to remove the aircraft from the incident site in Florianópolis. The outbound flight back to Sao Paulo stays canceled, as are other flights departing from the airport within the near future.
LATAM confirmed it has already notified all passengers with affected flights. Customers impacted by these changes can change their flights freed from charge or request a full refund of their airfare.