A mechanical issue onboard a Delta Air LinesAirbus A330-300 has resulted in the plane diverting four hours into the transatlantic flight to St. John’s International Airport, in the Newfoundland province of Canada. Delta flight 182 was operating between New York JFK Airport (JFK) and Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) when the incident occurred, and the unexpected stopover has seen all passengers put into a local hotel and provided meal vouchers until a replacement aircraft arrived.

DL182 departed from New York on Sunday, August 23, with plans for the eight-and-a-half-hour trip to the Italian city of Rome. The flight was approximately four hours into its journey, and was partly across the Atlantic, when a mechanical issue forced the plane to declare an emergency and divert to the closest capable airport.

Delta Airbus A330 Touches Down At St. Johns

Credit: Shutterstock

St. John’s (YYT) is a popular diversion airport for transatlantic flights and is the last major line of defense for aircraft that are making the transoceanic journey. The airport was well prepared to receive the Delta aircraft, which was met by emergency services upon arrival. A St. John’s airport spokesperson, Ryan Howell, confirmed all passengers exited the aircraft at the airport without incident.

All 267 passengers and 13 crew landed unharmed and were accommodated in hotels until Delta deployed a replacement aircraft to come to Newfoundland to return them to New York. The replacement aircraft transported all passengers and crew back to New York, where they were then reaccommodated onto another flight.

Simple Flying reached out to Delta for comment on the flight diversion; however, an airline spokesperson could not immediately be reached.

DL182 Experienced A Mechanical Emergency

Credit: Flightradar24

According to initial reports by People, the flight experienced a ‘mechanical issue with one of the aircraft’s engines’. The A330 was met by the St. John’s Regional Fire Department at the airport that evening. Delta has confirmed that the pilots followed standard procedure and diverted to St. John’s out of an abundance of caution.

Reviewing flight data, the aircraft N823NW departed from New York JFK on August 23 at 5:43 PM and had been in the air for around four hours before it ended up in Canada. The plane landed safely at St. John’s at 11:15 PM. A replacement aircraft, N428DX, was deployed to St. John’s and escorted passengers back to New York the following morning (August 24), departing at 9:50 AM and arriving at JFK at 11:07 AM.

Delta confirmed to CBC that all passengers have since been rebooked onto new flights to Italy, and has sincerely apologized for the inconvenience caused by the unexpected diversion, but emphasized that ‘safety is always Delta’s top priority’.

Aircraft Involved: N823NW

Credit: Shutterstock

The aircraft at the center of this diversion was N823NW, an 11.6-year-old A330-300 that was first delivered to the SkyTeam carrier in August 2015. The plane is one of more than 30 of the type that the airline operates and serves as an integral part of the airline’s transatlantic operations.

Configured to carry a total of 293 passengers across three classes (34 Business, 40 Premium and 219 Economy), the aircraft was almost fully loaded (with 267 passengers onboard), with just 26 seats left free. Further aircraft characteristics in the table below, as per ch-aviation:

For the recent flight to Rome, the diversion to St. John’s was made because it was the closest North American airport available for aircraft that are transiting the North Atlantic Ocean. Often, aircraft will divert here due to mechanical failures or medical emergencies. The swift actions by the Delta pilots faced with the mechanical issue with their aircraft engine meant that the plane and all passengers and crew landed safely, with just a slight inconvenience to travel plans.