Alaska Airlines flight diverted back to Anchorage, Alaska, while on its way to Big Island

A flight headed from Alaska to the Big Island on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 5) was diverted back to its point of departure after declaring an emergency while flying over the Gulf of Alaska, after being in the air for only a few hours following takeoff.

Alaska Airlines Flight 255 — from Anchorage, Alaska, to Kailua-Kona on the west side of the Big Island — was forced to turn around because of a maintenance issue.

Data from FlightAware — an online platform the providing accurate, real-time, historical and predictive flight insights to the aviation industry — show that Alaska Flight 255 took off at 3:53 p.m. Thursday from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

It was expected to touch down between 5 and 6 hours later at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on Hawai‘i Island.

The twin-jet Boeing 737 MAX 9 instead had to turn around at 6:43 p.m. for an emergency landing back in Anchorage because of what several social media pos scheduled to arrive by 4 a.m. today (Feb. 6), about and at least one Hawai‘i media outlet reported was a mechanical or maintenance-related issue.

Alaska Flight 255 landed safely at 7:38 p.m., with no injures, for its return to the Anchorage airport.

Hawai‘i News Report — @hawaiinewsreport on Instagram — posted that fire and emergency services greeted the plane at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

The exact — and official — reason for the emergency and diversion is unknown at this time; however, there are reports that say an engine light came on so pilots decided to turn around.

“My kids was on [Flight] 255 today. They said [it] was some monitors issues, but when they returned over [the] Pacific, everything came back to normal,” wrote Paul Kulakevich in reply to one of the social media posts discussing Thursday’s incident. “‘Captain said we have to go to Anchorage anyway to make sure everything is OK with plane.'”

Anastasiya Baletskaya wrote in reply to another post that “from knowing people on the flight — control board was acting up.”

Kulakevich, whose 7 children were aboard the plane, wrote in another reply that he heard from them that it was nothing serious, “just a control board start acting up.”

Passengers of Alaska Flight 255 were able to board another plane to make the trip to bound for Kona, only much later Thursday night. There also were additional delays connected with that jet.

“Your aircraft was delayed due to operational difficulties,” said Alaska Airlines on its status page about the route, following the emergency Big Island landing. “We apologize for the delay.”

They were scheduled to arrive by 4 a.m. today (Feb. 6) at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on the Big Island, about 5.5 to 6 hours later than originally scheduled.

Visit the Alaska Airlines website for flight statuses and other trip-related information. Be sure to also follow the airline on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

News reporter Nathan Christophel contributed to this story.