A Delta Air Lines flight returned to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday morning after the crew reported “possible smoke” inside the aircraft, prompting the pilot to declare an emergency and passengers to evacuate by slides once it safely landed, the airline and federal officials said.
Flight 876, a Boeing 717 aircraft, was headed for Columbia, S.C., but instead returned to the Atlanta airport around 9 a.m. The plane was carrying 94 passengers, as well as two pilots and three flight attendants, the airline said.
“The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when a haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure,” Delta said in a statement.
A representative for Delta said that medical teams were attending to two passengers.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience,” the airline said.
The crew reported “possible smoke” in the flight deck, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which said it would investigate.
The episode on Monday continues a turbulent stretch for Delta and for the airline industry as a whole.
Last week, a Delta jet that left Minneapolis was trying to land at Toronto Pearson Airport when it flipped over on the tarmac, injuring at least 18 people. The airline said it was offering $30,000 to each passenger who was on the flight.
On Saturday, a Delta flight carrying 162 people that took off from Los Angeles International Airport headed for Sydney, Australia, had to return to the airport after smoke was detected in the galley, an airline representative said.
There have been multiple other aviation accidents in recent weeks.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines plane that was approaching Reagan National Airport in Washington collided with an Army helicopter that was on a training mission, killing 67 people in both aircraft in what was the deadliest airline crash in the United States in two decades. On Jan. 31, a medical jet crashed in Philadelphia shortly after taking off, killing six on board and one person on the ground. And on Feb. 6, a small plane carrying 10 people crashed in Alaska, killing all those on board.
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