Plane goes off runway in Waterloo Region

Safety board investigating after early morning incident injures one passenger

Flights at Waterloo Region’s airport were cancelled after a Flair airplane from Vancouver overran the runway on Friday morning.

Flair Airlines said 134 passengers, in addition to crew, were on board Flight F8501 when the Boeing 737 plane left the runway as it completed its landing at the Region of Waterloo International Airport.

Waterloo Regional Police were on scene and said paramedics had treated a passenger with minor physical injuries.

All passengers were evacuated from the aircraft, then taken to the terminal by bus, a Flair Airlines spokesperson said.

“The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” the airline said in a statement.

The airline did not confirm the time the plane landed, but a Flair flight from Vancouver regularly flies into the Breslau airport at 5 a.m.

Staff at the Region of Waterloo International Airport confirmed that airport ramps had been closed and flights cancelled due to the landing overrun.

All other flights set to arrive or depart on Friday at the Waterloo Region airport were cancelled. Two Flair flights from Calgary and Edmonton, and a WestJet flight from Calgary were cancelled, as well as the 5 a.m. Flair flight from Vancouver on Saturday.

Other flights scheduled to arrive Saturday beyond 2:20 p.m. were expected to go ahead on schedule.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is deploying a team of investigators to gather information and assess the situation.

The board is an independent federal agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation incidents. The board does not assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.

The injury reported in the Friday landing is the first at the Breslau airport this year among 128 other safety-related incidents that did not result in anyone getting hurt.

These incidents, mostly minor, are recorded by Transport Canada in a national database.

They cover all operations at the airport including flight schools, commercial flights, and private flights.

Flair Airlines and WestJet have reported a dozen safety-related incidents in 2022 at the Breslau airport.