Jan. 10 (UPI) — Four people suffered minor injuries after a Delta Airlines plane executed an aborted takeoff Friday morning at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “Passengers deplaned via emergency slides and were safely transported to a nearby concourse,” the airport said on X, shortly after the incident occurred at 9:10 a.m. EST.
Four passengers are reporting minor injuries; one was transported [to hospital], the remaining three were treated on scene. Operations are delayed due to the incident and ongoing severe weather.”
Atlanta and large parts of the southern United States are dealing with Winter Storm Cora, which is hitting the region with frigid winter air, including ice and snow. Nationwide, some 2,000 flights were canceled on Friday because of weather conditions.
Temperatures were hovering around 32 degrees in Atlanta on Friday.
The 757-300 suffered some kind of engine issue that forced its pilots to abort the take off. Passengers reported smoke “billowing” out of one of the plane’s Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines, CNN reported.
Delta flight 2688 had been headed to Minneapolis.
“Delta’s flight crew followed established procedures to suspend the takeoff of flight 2668 from Atlanta to Minneapolis-St. Paul after an indication of an engine issue. Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience. We are working to support our customers and get them to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible,” the airline said in a statement following the aborted takeoff.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it is now investigating the incident.
Delta Airlines operates several of Boeing’s 757-300 variant, which can carry up to 234 passengers depending on configuration.
Delays at the airport are expected to continue until at least 2 p.m. EST.