An Allegiant Air flight traveling from Mesa, Arizona to Bellingham, Washington was diverted to the Elko, Nevada airport after an electrical odor in the airplane cabin was detected, shortly into the flight.
Allegiant spokeswoman Kim Schaefer says Flight 170 landed safely at the Elko Regional Airport around 4:15 p.m. Monday. There were 147 passengers and six crew members on board the Airbus 320 aircraft. No injuries have been reported. The plane was going to try to land in Ely Nevada, but the FAA decided to divert it to Elko instead.
Schaefer said passengers were being offered $200 off vouchers for future travel on Allegiant.
The Airbus A320 is about three times the size of an aircraft typically landing at the Elko airport, Gibbs said. The airport can handle that size, as it is designed to accommodate 700 through 800 series aircraft.
“At this time there was no incident, there were no injuries or accidents,” Gibbs told the media.
“Very rarely do we get aircraft where the airline is not responsible at the particular station, but we were able to quickly mobilize and get the passengers off within 45 minutes of their original arrival,” Gibbs said.
Elko Police and Fire departments, the Transportation Security Administration, Delta Airlines in Elko, the Airport Authority and the County ambulance service responded to the incident.
