MONTREAL — Air Transat says the emergency landing of one of its planes in New Jersey last weekend was caused by a faulty smoke detector.
Flight TS942 was travelling from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Saturday when it was forced to land in Newark due to reports of smoke in the cargo hold.
A passenger on the plane described feeling scared as she and her fellow travellers were told to crouch forward and put their heads down to prepare for an emergency landing.
The plane landed smoothly and the 189 passengers were evacuated from the plane using slides. The airport briefly closed both its runways due to the incident.
Air Transat spokeswoman Debbie Cabana says a subsequent inspection found there was no smoke or fire. It determined the alarm had been set off due to an issue with the detection system inside the cargo hold.
She says the passengers were all given a $200 travel credit to compensate them for the delay.