American Airlines Flight Veers Off Runway at Rochester Airport

An American Airlines ground staff member walks towards planes on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 24, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

An American Airlines flight slid off a runway at New York’s Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport on Thursday amid icy and snowy weather conditions, officials have confirmed.

The incident occurred moments after American Eagle Flight 5811—which had taken off from Philadelphia International Airport—landed safely in New York at around 4 p.m.

The plane then attempted to taxi to the terminal, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

However, officials said the plane—a smaller E-145 Embraer Regional Jet operated by Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of the American Airlines Group—veered off course while attempting to do so and stopped in the grass just off the taxiway.

There were 50 passengers and three crew members on board at the time of the incident, officials said.

No injuries were reported, Gary Walker, the Director of Communications in Monroe County, where the airport is located, said in a statement to the media.

Passengers on board could depart the jet safely and were transported to the airport terminal by bus, he added.

The cause of the incident is yet to be determined, Mr. Walker said, however icy and snowy conditions are believed to have played a significant part in the plane sliding off course.

Fox Weather, citing Rochester International Airport’s weather observation site, reported that light snow was falling at the time Flight 5811 touched down in New York.

‘Snowy Airfield Conditions’

An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed to CBS News in a statement that the flight “exited the taxiway while in transit to the terminal due to snowy airfield conditions.”

“Safety is our top priority and we apologize to our customers for their experience,” the spokesperson said.

In a separate statement to Fox News, American Airlines noted the plane will be taken out of service for a full inspection after being removed from the grassy area.

The FAA will also investigate the incident.

The Epoch Times has contacted Rochester Airport for further comment.

Photos and video footage shared on social media appeared to show firefighters helping passengers to disembark the plane in the middle of a snowy field. The Epoch Times could not confirm the authenticity of the video footage.

Thursday’s incident came as snowy and icy weather across large parts of the country has led to thousands of delays and cancellations to flights.

Nearly 12,000 flights in the United States were delayed or canceled on Tuesday amid severe weather, while Monday saw 3,346 cancellations, marking the highest number of flight cancellations since the Southwest Airlines fiasco in 2022.

Approximately 1,689 flights into or out of the United States were delayed on Thursday, according to data from FlightAware, with airports in Nashville, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, experiencing the most disruptions.

The latest runway mishap also occurred amid the FAA’s ongoing grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets following a midair blowout on a 737-9 MAX aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan. 5.

The agency said on Thursday it is expanding its probe into the plane maker and will now look into the manufacturing practices of its subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.