A United Airlines flight from Newark burst two tyres on landing at the Fort Myers Airport’s single runway (06/24), causing all operations, departures and arrivals to be halted.
Thousands of passengers were stranded in the terminal all day, and many presumably missed connections. Other passengers enroute to Fort Myers found themselves in Miami or Fort Lauderdale.
The Boeing 737-8 MAX (reg. N27253) stopped a bit more than half way down the 12,000 foot runway, ending up on a taxiway near the 168 foot high control tower.
The Lee County Port Authority failed to notify the public of the runway closure problem on either it’s Facebook page or the LCPA website. No announcements were made at all in the terminal building to notify passengers of the runway being closed so no flight could take off. Lots of announcements were made, however, about making sure pets were on a leash or in a pet carrier in the terminal building.
Arrivals were being diverted to other airports in South Florida.
Southwest Florida International Airport’s runway was closed until 7 p.m.according to the FAA.