A Southwest Airlines flight made an immediate turnaround mid-air after it struck a bird.
Southwest Airlines Flight 554, en route to Tampa Bay from New Orleans, was struck by a bird shortly after its departure on Wednesday.
After the bird hit the plane during the flight’s takeoff, the flight was able to U-turn and land safely back at Louis Armstrong New Orleans National Airport (MSY).
All 164 passengers were unharmed, and the airline eventually secured a new plane for the flight to Tampa Bay.
A spokesperson for MSY said the runways were closed after Flight 554 landed back in New Orleans to allow the crew to ‘clear up debris.’
Southwest Airlines Flight 554, en route to Tampa Bay, was struck by a bird shortly after its departure on December 20
All 164 passengers were seemingly unharmed, and the airline secured a new plan for the flight to Tampa Bay
The flight received a five-hour delay and eventually arrived in Florida at 9:36 pm.
Southwest Airlines worked with all passengers whose travel plans were impacted by the turnaround once they landed.
The next three Southwest Airlines Flight 554 trips also received five hour delays, its last one arriving in Chicago at 1:28 am.
Southwest Airlines has had a history of flight delays and even responded to X (formerly Twitter) users that complained about their late arrivals on other flights.
‘At OHare flying in from Phoenix. It’s not as bad as you abandoning me and others here in Chicago last year to fend for ourselves for 3-5 days, but it is not showing me that your work has gotten better,’ an X user wrote on December 19.
The amount of time it would’ve taken to get to Tampa International from MSY is two and a half hours. The flight received a five hour delay and arrived in Florida at 9:36 pm
Southwest Airlines worked with all passengers whose travel plans were impacted by the turnaround once they landed. The next three Southwest Airlines Flight 554 trips also received five hour delays
The airline responded: ‘Sorry for any frustration this delay has caused. We know our Customers depend on consistent ontime performance, and we’re sorry for falling short of expectations.’
The airline was also recently fined a record $140 million for canceling 16,900 flights in a December 2022 holiday meltdown that left two million passengers stranded.
Southwest Airlines lost up to $425 million in revenue after the cancellations and was ranked the second worst airline for 2022 delays.