A United Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft taxied for so long at Newark Airport, that it eventually ran out of fuel. The aircraft reportedly stayed on the tarmac and taxiways for more than six hours.
The United Airlines Boeing 737-900ER was scheduled to fly from Newark to Denver on the 22nd of August. However, the flight eventually got cancelled. New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi was on board the flight and shared her experience on Twitter.
“You can’t make this up.. my United flight out of Newark taxied on the tarmac for more than 6 hours and now no longer has enough fuel to get to Denver — so we are taxiing back to the terminal.”
New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi
The initial delays were due to inclement weather – specifically lightning and thunderstorms. The aircraft taxied for around 3 hours before returning to the gate. After arriving at the gate, passengers were told, “if you really need to go to the bathroom or stretch your legs, go ahead, but we really prefer you don’t, and we won’t hesitate to leave you behind.”
Aircraft Ran Out of Fuel
Furthermore, the aircraft continued taxiing for the next few hours. However, after spending around six hours on the ground, the aircraft ran out of fuel to continue its flight to Denver.
In an announcement, the captain said: On top of taxiing for hours, air traffic control gave us a longer flight path to Denver to avoid lingering storms. Which all meant we didn’t have enough fuel left to make it there.
After the delay, passengers were notified that the flight had been cancelled through the airline’s app. However, the crew members were not aware of it and asked the passengers to reboard the aircraft.
The crew once again started to taxi and remained on the tarmac for another two hours. Eventually, the flight was cancelled and passengers disembarked the aircraft.
“Oh my god, after 8.5 hours on the tarmac at Newark, and disembarking/reembarking/refuelling the plane, the flight is a no-go,” tweeted reporter MS. Tabuchi.
“We are heading back to the gate a final time. This time, it’s the crew – they’ve clocked out. ‘I’ve run out of apologies,’ the pilot just told us.”
Feature Image via Hiroko Tabuchi
