Air France launches rescue operation as Boeing 787 stranded in Canadian Arctic after emergency landing

Air France’s Boeing 787 makes emergency landing in remote Canadian town Iqaluit

About six hours into what should have been a nine-and-a-half-hour flight to Seattle, a burning smell and smoke were detected onboard, including the cockpit. Pilots quickly resorted to their oxygen masks and prepared for an emergency landing at the nearest available airport, which happened to be in Iqaluit, per Business Insider.

As the plane made it safely to the redirected airport, a video of the emergency landing was shared on X, formerly Twitter. The viral clip as garnered over 500K views on the platform as of now.

The passengers aboard the stranded Boeing 787 were transported to New York via a different aircraft. According to Flightradar24 data, a Boeing 777 bound for Paris from Montreal was cancelled and rerouted to Iqaluit. The aircraft departed for New York nearly 11 hours after the emergency landing. While the destination was not what the passengers intended, Air France made sure that they reached the United States.

The airline expressed its regret over the situation, issuing an apology for the inconvenience caused. “Air France regrets the inconvenience caused by this situation and reiterates that the safety of its customers and crews is its absolute imperative,” the statement reads. The faulty Boeing 787 is grounded in Iqaluit for the time being as the crew investigates the cause.