American Airlines flight diverted to Houston due to report of an oven fire

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts

Get Simon Calder’s Travel email

An American Airlines flight was diverted to Houston, Texas, on Sunday due to a reported fire on board.

On 21 January, Flight 885 from Texas to North Carolina was diverted due to the fire, according to a statement from American Airlines shared with NBC News. In the statement, the airline specified that the “mechanical issues” on board were caused by the oven in the forward galley.

The flight had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin at 2pm and was diverted to Houston, according to data from FlightAware. After arriving at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) at 3pm CST, travellers experienced an extensive flight delay before heading to their initial destination.

Flight 885 officially took off from IAH at 10.59pm CST on 21 January, before arriving at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) at 1.46am EST.

According to American Airlines, nobody on aircraft Boeing 737-800 was injured by the reported fire. The Houston Airport System told NBC that the aircraft was examined by the maintenance team when it first landed in Houston on 21 January. The city’s fire department also responded to the report of the fire on the aircraft.

“After approximately 30 minutes, the alert was terminated and the aircraft was declared fire-safe,” a spokesperson for Houston’s airport system said.

In a statement issued after Flight 885 landed in Houston, American Airlines addressed the mechanical problems on board. “The aircraft landed safely and without incident, and taxied to the gate under its own power,” the airline said at the time. “We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience and appreciate our team members for their professionalism. We are currently working to assist impacted customers, and they are scheduled to depart to CLT later tonight.”

The Independent has contacted a representative for American Airlines for comment.

This isn’t the first time that issues on a Boeing 737 aircraft have been reported. Earlier this month, Alaska Airlines passengers sued Boeing in response to an incident on a domestic flight, which resulted in a door-plug blowing out of the plane mid-air.

The lawsuit listed seven plaintiffs and was filed in the Superior Court of Washington for King County, where part of the emergency occurred. The incident took place on 5 January, as Flight 1282 was 16,000 feet in the air as it travelled from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.