NEW DELHI: A United Airlines jet with 166 passengers aboard rolled off the runway into a grassy area in Houston on Friday morning, making it the third such mishap involving a Boeing plane this week.
No casualties were reported, the Airlines said in a statement.
Video footage taken after the landing showed the plane leaning to one side, with one of its wings quite close to the ground.
United Flight 2477 from Memphis, Tennessee, had arrived at Bush Intercontinental Airport at 8am (local time) and was on its way to a terminal gate when the Boeing 737 Max 8 left the runway, according to a statement from the Houston Airport System.
The passengers were assisted out of the plane via stairs.
“All passengers have been bused to the terminal and are being assisted by our team with their onward connections and other needs. We are removing luggage from the aircraft and will work to reunite customers with their belongings as quickly as possible,” United said.
“We will work with the NTSB, FAA and Boeing to understand what happened,” it added.
This comes a day after an Osaka-bound Boeing 777 jet, with 249 people aboard, had to make an emergency landing after its wheel fell off into a parking lot damaging several cars.
Earlier this week, a Houston-to-Florida route had to make an emergency landing as well, after one of its engines began to emit flames 10 minutes after takeoff.
Calling each of these events “unrelated”, United Airlines said in a statement that they will investigate each incident “to understand what happened and learn from them.”
Boeing shares plummeted 2.2% at the close on Friday, continuing the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s biggest year-to-date decline. United dropped 1.9%.