July 10, 2026 Team Contributor
A disaster was narrowly averted yesterday evening, on Thursday, when an Air Canada flight, AC774, with 156 passengers on board, veered off the runway at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport on July 9, 2026.
The Boeing 737 MAX arriving at YUL (Montreal) from LAX (Los Angeles) had just touched down at 4:00 PM when the passengers were met with an unpleasant surprise. The incident occurred as the plane exited the main runway, causing it to veer into the grassy area. All passengers and crew remained unharmed, and no injuries have been reported.
A wait of three hours
Most of the passengers had no idea what transpired. But most seemed visibly shaken when they learnt what had happened. Those at the window side could see plumes of smoke, grass and dirt. It was alarming.
CTN managed to connect with a passenger who, while requesting anonymity, provided a gripping account of the ordeal from the cabin. According to the source, the sudden jolts were initially masked by a calm atmosphere,
“We sat there for three agonising hours. That was pretty long. I was paralysed by the fear that the plane might explode. But the crew deserves mention. They kept us as composed as possible until we finally made it to the terminal.”
Air Canada’s response
By 7:37 p.m., Air Canada’s official X handle confirmed that all passengers and crew had safely disembarked and been moved to the terminal.
Air Canada swiftly initiated an investigation into the incident. It said the plane would be sent for a full inspection in the hangar.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has formally launched an investigation, with investigators deployed to the scene to assess the cause of the excursion.
Weather playing spoilsport? According to passenger accounts, it was “pouring rain” at the time of the landing.
Nav Canada, which manages civil air navigation in Canada, explicitly stated that the weather in the region was “contributing to operational complexity and delays” at the airport during that time.
Just a couple of months earlier, passengers aboard a Toronto-Bound WestJet flight had anxious moments when their flight was diverted to the Waterloo region, causing them to wait for some 8.5 hours.
Are the flights affected?
In the aftermath of the incident, as part of the standard procedure, officials at Montreal’s Trudeau airport confirmed that the airport’s North Runway was temporarily closed. The emergency coordination centre was also activated to assist in the operation. It then reopened by 10 PM the same evening.
Because the incident occurred at 4:00 p.m. and the runway remained closed until just before 10:00 p.m., most evening flights to and from the airport experienced some disruption.
As a result of the incident, both domestic and international flights are delayed by 30 mins. Flights between Montreal (YUL) and Vancouver (YVR) were particularly affected. Arrivals into Vancouver from Montreal originally scheduled for 7:00 p.m., 7:50 p.m., and 8:59 p.m. were significantly delayed,
While flights to the US will take longer, close to an hour. No flight cancellation news due to the Air Canada 737 incident has been reported.
We advise passengers to check their schedules if they are flying from YUL on Friday or the weekend.
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