Pittsburgh Steelers’ flight makes emergency landing at KCI after problem with aircraft
A chartered flight for the Pittsburgh Steelers football team made an emergency landing at Kansas City International Airport early Monday after experiencing an in-flight problem with the aircraft, according to airport officials.
The flight was headed from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh following the Steelers’ Sunday Night Football game win when it was diverted to KCI, which has the airport code of MCI.
“Everyone on the plane is safe, and we are making necessary plans to arrive back in Pittsburgh later today,” Steelers’ senor director of communications Burt Lauten said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The plane, Delta Airlines flight 8867, took off from Harry Reid International Airport shortly before 1 a.m. Kansas City time, according to FlightAware.com.
Shortly before 4 a.m., KCI emergency crews were notified that an inbound aircraft had declared an emergency designated as an Alert 2, KCI spokesman Joe McBride said in an email. An Alert 2 indicates that the plane is having major difficulties.
The Airbus A330 had 182 passengers and crew aboard and landed safely, McBride said. The plane taxied under its own power to Gate A14.
MCI officials were informed a replacement aircraft, Delta Airlines flight 9963, would be en route and arrive around 9 a.m., McBride said.
The team remained on the aircraft and will transfer to the replacement aircraft upon its arrival.
