PONTA DELGADA – On Sunday a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 made a very hard landing at Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores, causing serious overstress damage to the fuselage and landing gear. The return flight was cancelled. There were no injuries reported.
After a delayed flight, the Delta Boeing 757-200 – registered N543US – on Flight DL414 from New York JFK Airport to Ponta Delgada Airport, “made a hard landing on runway 12 of Ponta Delgada João Paulo II Airport” on the island of Sao Miguel, around 08:30 AM, said local airport sources.
The same sources said that the hard landing on the runway caused structural damage to the fuselage and the nose landing gear of the plane of the American airline. No injuries were reported.
The return flight of the Delta B757 was cancelled and the aircraft remained on the Atlantic island on Sunday. Delta has scheduled two flights today from Ponta Delgada to New York, in order to get stranded passengers to the US. Rescue Flight DL9959 (Boeing 757-200, N538US from Atlanta) is scheduled to arrive at Ponta Delgada Airport around 9:00 PM local time.
The Azores are part of Portugal and the EU, so each passenger will be entitled to 600 EUR compensation under Regulation EU261/2004.
Ponta Delgada Airport in The Azores
Ponta Delgada Airport (PDL) – also known as João Paulo II Airport – is an international airport located on the island of São Miguel in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Situated 1.2 miles (2 km) west of the city centre of Ponta Delgada, it is the primary and busiest airport in the Azores.
The Azores is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It’s an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean about 850 miles (1,360 km) west of continental Portugal.
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(Head image: Miguel Soares on Facebook via JACDEC on Twitter)
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