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Around 6:30 a.m. EST on Nov. 25, a Flair Airlines 737-800 skidded off the end of Runway 08/26 at the Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF). There were no injuries reported, but information about the cause of the runway overrun and if there is any damage to the aircraft has not yet been made available. Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) officials were called to the scene, and the airport remains closed.
Flair Airlines F8501 was inbound from Vancouver (YVR), departing at 11:35 p.m. PST (roughly an hour and 25 minutes late) and arriving at YKF at 6:25 a.m. EST, according to FlightAware. Passengers deplaned about an hour later and “were taken to the terminal by bus,” the airline said in a statement on Twitter.
“The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” the statement concluded.
According to the TSB, there have been an average of 9.3 runway overrun occurrences per year at Canadian aerodromes from Jan. 1, 2005, to June 30, 2022. Of those occurrences, 6.7 occurred during landing.
Runway overruns can occur for a variety of reasons, but certain conditions — such as a contaminated runway, mechanical issue, weather/wind, or an unstable/long landing — can play a contributing role.
Runway 08/26 at YKF is a 7,003-foot by 148-ft asphalt runway. In the summer of 2021, the airport widened the runway from 145 ft to 148 ft in order to better accommodate larger aircraft arriving and departing. It was previously considered a narrow runway by Transport Canada.
Whoever designed the livery has much to answer for.