A PAL Airlines de Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprop, operating under Air Canada
, skidded off the runway and caught fire upon landing at Halifax International Airport (YHZ), narrowly avoiding disaster.
The news comes amid a series of serious aviation incidents, including the fatal crashes of a Jeju Air Boeing 737 and an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190, as well as a runway excursion of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 737 due to hydraulic failure.
The incident details
The PAL Airlines de Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprop, registered as C-GPNA, was operating flight PVL2259 between St. John’s International Airport (YYT) and Halifax International Airport (YHZ) when upon landing, the turboprop skidded off the runway and caught fire.
According to a local media report by CBC News, Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick stated that the plane experienced a “suspected landing gear issue” upon arrival on December 28, 2024. As a result, the aircraft could not reach the terminal, and the crew, along with 73 passengers, were transported by bus. Passengers reportedly sustained only minor injuries.
Additionally, passenger Nikki Valentine told CBC News about her experience onboard the aircraft and that one of the plane’s tires failed to deploy correctly during landing.
“The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud — what almost sounded like a crash sound — as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine.”
The aircraft in question is the airline’s 24-year-old de Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 regional turboprop. According to ch-aviation data, the aircraft can seat up to 76 passengers in a single-class cabin layout. Before operating as part of PAL Airlines, the aircraft was part of the Horizon Air fleet.
A string of serious aviation accidents
The news of PAL Airlines’ runway incident follows two tragic aviation accidents. On December 29, 2024, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800, operating as flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, Thailand, crashed while attempting to land at Muan International Airport in South Korea.

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Meanwhile, on December 25, 2024, an Azerbaijan Airlines
Embraer E190 operating flight J28243, which was heading from Baku to Grozny, crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan.
The flight had 62 passengers and five crew onboard, of which 38 perished. Early reports suggested the aircraft succumbed from a bird strike. However, images shared on social media of the tail and fuselage seemingly peppered with shrapnel from an air defense missile led some to believe the aircraft may have been struck by Russian air defense. As Euronews has exclusively reported, citing links to Azerbaijani government sources, preliminary assessments are that a Russian missile hit the aircraft.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243, although he did not confirm Russian responsibility for the tragic accident.

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There has been no official confirmation from Russia that it was responsible for shooting at the plane.