An Atlas Air cargo plane bound for Puerto Rico was diverted Thursday evening after taking off from Miami International Airport due to an engine problem, according to an official and flight data.
Flight 5Y095 landed safely after experiencing an “engine malfunction” shortly after departure, Atlas Air said Friday morning.
“The crew followed all standard procedures and returned safely” to the airport, the company said in a statement. “At Atlas, safety is always our top priority and we will conduct a thorough inspection to determine the cause.”
It is unclear exactly what type of cargo the plane was carrying.
Although the company did not specify the type of aircraft, data collected by FlightAwarea flight tracking company, showed it was a Boeing 747-8.
A Boeing spokesperson said Friday morning that the company was deferring comment to Atlas Air. The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return a request for comment.
The plane left its gate at Miami International at 10:11 p.m. Thursday and returned to the airport about 50 minutes later, according to FlightAware. The website also showed that the plane flew 60 miles in total.
Atlas Air, which began operations in 1992 and is headquartered in New York, claims to operate the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 747 cargo planes, according to its website. The company also offers its customers a selection of plans, including Boeing 777 and 737, for cargo and passenger operations.
Industry attention has recently focused on quality control issues at Boeing. Problems began to worsen for Boeing in late December when the company urged airlines to inspect all 737 Max planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder control system after one airline discovered a nut was missing from a bolt during routine maintenance.
The company’s problems worsened in early January after a door panel exploded on a 737 Max 9 plane operated by Alaska Airlines, causing an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. The FAA then ordered the temporary grounding of 171 Max 9 planes until they were thoroughly inspected, causing hundreds of flight cancellations and headaches for travelers.
On Wednesday, FAA officials said an initial round of inspections of 40 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes had been completed, but those planes and many others would remain grounded until the agency approves instructions to airlines to inspect plans.
Amid Boeing’s struggles, longtime rival Airbus forged ahead, announcing this month that it had delivered more planes and secured more orders than Boeing in 2023.
