A Boeing 737-900ER
operated by 
Delta Air Lines
returned to its hub at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
on Sunday after reportedly experiencing pressurization issues. The aircraft was bound for Portland, Oregon.
The pilots rerouted the plane back to its origin just minutes after it had taken off. Delta quickly deployed a replacement aircraft to continue the flight and has since apologized for the incident.
Flight details
The mishap was first reported by Salt Lake City local affiliate ABC4 Utah. Data from Flightradar24 indicates that DL1203, enroute to Portland International Airport (PDX)
, was operated by N916DU. The plane pushed back from gate A16 on Sunday morning at 07:56. It taxied over to runway 16L, where it was airborne at 08:11.
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Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The plane followed the standard departure procedures, immediately turning northwest once it was in the air. It quickly gained speed and climbed in altitude as it crossed over the southern half of the Great Salt Lake. At approximately 8:14 – just three minutes into the flight – data shows that the aircraft leveled off at around 10,000 feet above sea level. It then descended about a thousand feet and maintained the altitude for about a minute longer.
Returning to SLC
Once it reached 8,000 feet, the plane turned directly north and then east. Minutes later, the aircraft turned southeast to intercept the approach path toward SLC. It continued to descend and lined up with runway 16R, where it touched down safely at 08:28. It is unclear if emergency responders met the aircraft as it exited the runway, but it appears that the aircraft just returned to gate A16, arriving 10 minutes later at 08:39.
Photo: Flightradar24
According to ABC4 Utah, the pilots could not pressurize the cabin above 10,000 feet, but oxygen masks reportedly did not deploy. There were 140 passengers onboard, and no injuries were believed to be reported.
Delta confirmed the incident in a statement obtained by ABC4 Utah on Sunday.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels. The safety of our customers and people remains Delta’s most important priority.”
Finding another 737-900ER
The airline deployed a replacement aircraft to continue DL1203, but it did not depart until nearly two hours after the occurrence plane returned. According to flight data, N807DN, another 737-900ER, was utilized to continue the journey. The aircraft arrived from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
as DL892 around 09:00. Delta was able to turn the plane around in just over an hour as it departed from gate A5 at 10:17 as DL1203.
Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock
The aircraft was airborne by 10:32 and arrived at PDX at 10:56, resulting in a two-hour delay from its original scheduled arrival time.
It is unclear what may have prompted the pressurization
issues on N916DU. According to ch-aviation, the aircraft is just five years old, having been delivered new to Delta in January 2019. As of May of this year, it had recorded over 17,000 flight hours across more than 6,700 flight cycles.
The complication does not seem extremely major as it is scheduled to return to service on Monday to operate the same flight – DL1203 – from SLC to PDX.