Delta A319 Unloaded On Runway Following Rejected Mexico City Takeoff

Simple Flying

Mexico City International Airport closed one of its runways for hours on Tuesday 15 after an incident onboard a Delta Air Lines flight.

The high reward was offered in hopes that eight volunteers would take one of three later flights that day. Photo: Aero Icarus via Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday, a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 suffered an excursion off runway 05L at Mexico City International Airport (MEX) while taking off. The aircraft had rejected takeoff due to an engine failure, and subsequently suffered a burst tire. The incident led to the closure of the runway.

What happened?

On February 15, Delta Air Lines flight DL605 between Mexico City and Minneapolis was canceled due to an incident while taking off from the Mexican airport.

The airline was using an Airbus A319, registration N354NB (built in 2002) for the flight. As the airplane was taking off from runway 05L at Mexico City’s airport, an engine failure meant the crew had to reject the takeoff. It was rejected at around 100 knots.

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As the aircraft slowed down, one of the tires burst, causing it to veer off the runway to the right. The aircraft came to a stop outside the runway edge markings. While rejecting the takeoff, Delta’s Airbus A319 damaged some drainage canal cappings, as can be seen in pictures and videos posted on social media.

Mexico City airport informed,

“While initiating the takeoff of flight DAL605 from Delta, a tire burst. We executed our safety protocol and there weren’t major setbacks for passengers and crew. The travelers and luggage descended from the plane and the flight was rescheduled. We closed the runway 05L/23R, and we are operating with the runway 05R/23L.”

Four hours later, MEX authorities announced both runways were reopened and fully functioning.

Delta’s N354NB doesn’t have any scheduled flight on February 16 and 17, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. On February 18, the airline will operate at least two services, flight DL1361 between Minneapolis and Winnipeg (Canada) and flight DL2247 between Raleigh-Durham and Tampa.

Delta Air Lines in Mexico

Last year, Delta Air Lines carried 3.3 million travelers between Mexico and the United States, according to data provided by the Mexican government. It was the third-largest US carrier in the country behind American Airlines (5.3 million) and United Airlines (4.6 million). Nonetheless, if we take into account Delta and Aeromexico’s joint efforts, the two carriers are the main players in the market with approximately 20% of the share.

In 2021, Delta recovered 90.3% of its pre-pandemic traffic levels into Mexico. Among the top three (American, United, and Delta) it was the only one that couldn’t exceed its 2019 traffic levels. Both American and United grew by nearly 10%.

In February 2022, Delta is scheduling 2,401 flights between the United States and Mexico. It flies to Cancun, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, and San José del Cabo.

Another tire-bursting incident

Delta’s flight 605 wasn’t the only one with an incident on Tuesday. An American Airlines flight also aborted takeoff after two tires burst on the apron of New York’s JFK International Airport.

The flight was American Airlines’ 2829, going to Phoenix, Arizona. The airline used a Boeing 737-800 registration N339PL, which is four years old. Onboard there were 142 passengers and six crew members. There were no injuries reported, and passengers were rescheduled to another flight.

Despite American Airlines’ N339PL being removed from service, it appears the aircraft had only one day off-duty, as today it has operated flights between Phoenix and Palm Springs, according to FlightRadar24.com.