A flight from the Dominican Republic caught fire after experiencing an apparent gear failure while landing at Miami International Airport.

Red Air Flight 203 departed Santo Domingo at approximately 15:00 and performed an uneventful approach to landing. After touching down on Runway 9, the MD-82 veered to the left and skidded into the grass area that separates Runway 9 from the intersecting Runway 12-30. The aircraft’s left wing impacted an airport antenna structure, including a small building near it. The structure impacted the jet’s right wing at which point a fire erupted. All 140 passengers and 11 crew members were safely evacuated, but there are reports of some minor injuries at this time.

Red Air is a Dominican Republic-based airline that operates a fleet of McDonnell Douglas aircraft, consisting of three MD-82s and one MD-81. The aircraft involved in the accident was an MD-82 with registration of HI1064. It was previously operated by Venezuelan-based Laser Air.

Who is Red Air?

Only launched last year, Red Air is a discount airline based in the Dominican Republic. It was set up with the aim of challenging other low-cost carriers on the popular routes from the Caribbean to the US. It recently added 20 weekly flights to the States, and was eyeing the development of several bases in Centra and South America as well as in cities in the United States.

The airline has only four aircraft in its fleet, all from the MD family. One is an MD-81, while the other three are MD-82s. The average age of the fleet is just over 30 years. The aircraft involved in the incident had been delivered new to American Airlines in December 1990, before moving to Laser Airlines in 2017. It was registered to Red Air in June last year.

The other MD-82s have followed a similar pathway, delivered new to AA in the 1990s before moving to Laser in more recent times. The MD-81 was originally a Japan Airlines aircraft, but had also been in service with Laser Airlines in the past decade.

At present, the airline was only flying between Santo Domingo and Miami International. The airline had received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in September last year