One of the passengers said they were made to walk all the way from the middle of the runway to the airport terminal because the plane would not move anymore.
“We were landing on Saipan. Then we stopped in the middle of the runway. Something was going on. It was really scary,” the passenger said in a phone interview.
The passenger who lives on Saipan said they asked Freedom Air what was going on but no explanation was given.
A Freedom Air official told the Variety in a separate phone interview their plane experienced a maintenance problem while it was on its way to Saipan.
“We just had a maintenance problem. We’re just waiting for the mechanic to change the part,” said Dennis Cruz, station manager of Freedom Air.
He did not specify the part that was to be changed.
Freedom Air flies twice daily between Saipan and Guam and uses two small planes.
Cruz said their planes are safe and that the incident is an isolated one.
He compared it to having a flat tire that no one anticipates to happen.
The airline official said passengers can be assured that their planes are safe.
“Our planes are safe,” Cruz said and stressed that their aircraft are regularly maintained.
