The incident happened around 1:30 p.m. Delta officials confirm the plane is a Bombardier CRJ-900 that seats 76 people.
Officials say 73 passengers were on board along with four crew members. Airport administrators say no one was hurt, and witness pictures indicate little to no visible damage to the exterior of the plane.
Blue Grass Airport officials tell WKYT Delta Flight 3359 heading from Atlanta to Lexington went off the side of the runway into the grass. Officials say all passengers are accounted for, safe and taken to Terminal B.
Delta Airlines issued a statement about the incident:
Upon landing in Lexington, KY., Endeavor Air flight 3359 from Atlanta, operating as Delta Connection, turned off the active runway and came to a stop in the grassy area between taxiways A2 and A1.
Endeavor crew members made the decision to deplane customers through the main cabin door into the grass where buses took all on board to the terminal. We apologize to our customers impacted by this incident.
Airport officials say Blue Grass Airport is open, but no flights were coming or going from the airport for most of the afternoon.
Officials say air traffic came to a halt because they had to move the plane from its current location.
Heavy rain and low visibility may very well be a factor, said WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey.
It was raining hard there from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Blue Grass Airport reported torrential rains around the time the plane skidded off the runway. More than one inch of rain fell in under an hour.
Photos on social media show passengers from Delta flight 3359 from Atlanta to Lexington leaving the plane through its doorway.
According to the airport's flight status page, three outgoing flights have been canceled, and at least one arrival has been canceled. Several more flights were delayed.
I was waiting for my friend. She's heading out to Florida, and I saw all the police heading down the runway, and she called me and told me that her flight was canceled, said Cindy Kenney, who was at the airport shortly after the mishap.
One traveler, Jason McKinney, was set to fly home to Charlotte just before the incident, but his flight became one of the canceled departures.
We were getting ready to board and then all of a sudden the incoming flight got diverted.
You hear the sirens and you see everything going on, and it was pretty scary, he said.
McKinney was supposed to perform in a dinner show Saturday evening, but instead spent hours searching for an understudy since he was stranded in Lexington.
Very frustrating and the weather was really horrible earlier but now I’m kind of thinking it’s a little over reaction, said another traveler Chappell Traynham, who was heading home to Atlanta.
Traynham says Delta payed for hotel accommodations Saturday evening due to a cancelled flight.
Airport officials say as of Sunday at noon, most flights are operating on schedule.
Tourism Observer
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