BANGOR, Maine — Everything is running as normal at the Bangor International Airport on Monday afternoon, but early Monday morning, almost 300 people were displaced after an emergency landing.
A United flight traveling from San Francisco to Amsterdam was forced to land in Bangor due to a cabin pressure issue.
"From what we understand all safety precautions were taken, the crew did exactly what they were trained to do," Bangor International Airport Director, Tony Caruso said.
The flight came in around 1:30 a.m. and there were 292 passengers, along with a handful of crew members.
All of those people had to be put up at local hotels, which is a pretty common practice.
"We do experience diversions on an almost routine basis. every week there's something whether it's weather-related, could be mechanical like today, could be medical," Caruso said.
The Holiday Inn is the largest hotel in town and usually one of the first calls when a flight comes in unexpectedly.
But Monday morning when management at the Holiday Inn got the call, "We were already full at that time. We had received a diverted flight from the military," Holiday Inn General Manager, Christina Bustard said.
That flight was filled with members of the Army coming from Germany and heading to Kansas.
For hotels when a diverted flight comes in, "We start organizing and prepping. Calls and messages go out so that we can prepare for whoever we're getting," Bustard said.
It's common for diverted flights to end up in Bangor because the airport is equipped for any plane to land with its long runways, customs and border patrol operations and geographic location.
United sent a new plane to Bangor for the diverted passengers to take to Newark. From there, everyone will get on their way to Amsterdam.