Hawaiian Airlines Flight Turns Back After Engine Concern

PC: Hawaiian Airlines

A Hawaiian Airlines flight bound for the West Coast turned back to Honolulu Sunday afternoon after pilots noted a possible problem in one of the aircraft’s engines.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 26 from Honolulu to Portland took to the air at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday, carrying 189 passengers and seven crew. It was only in the for about a half an hour before the potential engine problem necessitated a return to Daniel K. Inouye Airport.

“An emergency was declared to obtain priority handling at HNL, where the aircraft landed without incident at 2:59 p.m. local time (Sunday),” a Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson said in a release.

The aircraft is an Airbus A 321neo. Sunday’s incident marks at least the second time in less than three months that an Airbus model in the Hawaiian Airlines fleet was forced to turn around during a flight between Hawai‘i and the West Coast.

On Aug. 12, 2019, Hawaiian Airlines flight 3 from Los Angeles to Honolulu headed back to LAX following fumes infiltrating the cabin roughly two hours into its journey. That aircraft was an Airbus330.

A Hawaiian Airlines spokesperson said the August event was due to a “non-toxic odor resulted from an engine wash prior to departure.”

Flight 26 landed safely at HNL on Sunday, the airline reported. All passengers were diverted to separate flights.