An Allegiant Air flight traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Bangor, Maine, was forced to make an emergency landing at a Rhode Island airport after passengers reported an abnormal smell.
Allegiant spokeswoman Kim Schaefer said Flight 736 landed safely at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick at 4:28 p.m. Wednesday with 151 passengers and six crew members.
No injuries were reported, and officials say there was no indication of fire or smoke.
Passengers were booked into hotels for the night, and a replacement plane was scheduled to leave Warwick for Bangor on Thursday morning.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
Another diversion took place on Thursday morning, on a flight from Orlando Sanford International Airport slated to land in Cedar Rapids.
Passengers told WRCB that they heard a loud pop after about an hour in the air and almost halfway through the flight.
One passenger said a few minutes later the pilot announced they would be landing in Chattanooga. The plane landed safely, and Allegiant is bringing in another plane to take the passengers to their destination.
Two other Allegiant diversions have taken place this past week for flights coming out of the same airport.
On Christmas Eve, 141 passengers on a flight to Youngstown, Ohio, were diverted to Jacksonville International Airport for an “engine problem,” a spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority told the Orlando Sentinel.
On Monday, a plane flying from Orlando Sanford to Appleton, Wis., had to make an emergency landing in Fargo, N.D., after there were de-icing problems on the plane.
Allegiant gave passengers on both the flights vouchers. The passengers were ultimately taken to their final destinations.
The Sentinel reported that the incidents come as Allegiant pilots have been asking for bigger scrutiny of the budget airline, citing concerns about the safety of the airline’s fleet of planes and the maintenance schedule for planes.
“That speaks volumes about the maintenance program,” said Chris Moore, chairman of The Aviation Mechanics Coalition, Inc.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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