Only five per cent of flights flying through Vancouver International Airport were impacted after the airport's north runway closed following an airplane crash early Tuesday morning.
YVR's control tower received a call from pilots on board a Cargojet Boeing 767-300, which was flying on behalf of Amazon Prime Air, coming in from Hamilton, Ont., around 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority, said pilots asked for help and needed to make an emergency landing.
Fire and rescue team at YVR were dispatched once the plane came to a full stop over the end of the paved runway and onto the grass to the east of it.
According to Aviation Herald, an online publication that reports aircraft incidents, the Cargojet Boeing 767-300 declared a “PAN PAN” – a heightened awareness alert – as it was approaching YVR due to problems with the aircraft's flaps.
The plane then landed at a “higher than normal speed,” according to Aviation News, at about 175 knots, and overran the north runway by 1,880 feet.
Three Cargojet crew were safely deplaned and no injuries were reported, according to Vrooman.
The north runway was closed immediately and all flights scheduled for today were moved to YVR's south runway.
"We've now set about the time to understand how we will remove that aircraft and return our runway to full service," said Vrooman.
More than 600 flights arrived and departed from YVR airport and only five per cent experienced "any kind of delay," she added.
"So the airport, given this extraordinary incident, is still operating as normal."
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has control of the site and is investigating the incident.
Once TSB's investigation is completed, Vrooman added, YVR crews will remove the plane.
"We do believe at this time that it could take a few days, if not longer, to dislodge the aircraft, given it is in the grass. (It's) very heavy, we need to get the cargo off the plane in order to make the plane light enough to move."
In the meantime, all flights will be operating from the south runway.
When asked if there was any concern or risk of the plane coming in contact with the McArthurGlen Outlet to the east of the north runway, Vrooman said there was no risk at all.
"We have a very secure perimeter, and there was no risk that the plane would breach the fence or go onto the road in this particular case.
She further explained it is "difficult to speculate" how an aircraft will move in these situations, whether it be in rain or dry weather.
"We have several 100 aircraft take off ... each and every day. Cargojet is a very long-standing, well-experienced operator on our airfield, and so that's the purpose of the TSB review," said Vrooman.
"We will provide further updates on the situation regularly and as new information becomes available. We appreciate the work of those responding to the incident and everybody's patience."
YVR is asking all passengers to check with their airlines for any delays.
The airport recently announced a $133 million refurbishment project to the north runway which would see a variety of upgrades.
Vrooman said they do not expect the incident to impact the project in any way and it will continue as scheduled in the spring with paving in the summer.
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