Travelers frustrated a day after a disabled plane shuts down RSW

Things are up and running again at Southwest Florida International Airport after a disabled plane shut down the airport for hours on Tuesday.

The impacts from the plane are still being felt. RSW is playing catch-up, and this really has a lot of travelers frustrated.

“There was a window, you could actually see the plane. So it was pretty obvious to me what was going on,” said Dan Fey, a passenger at RSW.

United flight 2274 from Newark, New Jersey, landed, and two of its tires blew out on the runway.

The people got off safely, but the plane sat there for hours, meaning no planes could take off or land.

“That’s a little ridiculous to me. I thought that could have been prevented,” said Fey.

Part of the extended delay on Tuesday came because United Airlines said they had to drive a specialized jack from Orlando to RSW to change the blown tires on the plane before moving it from the runway.

A spokesperson for the airport said RSW offered United Airlines assistance with moving the plane, but because of the nature of the incident and aircraft type, United chose to use the special equipment.

Fey said even with the hours-long delay, and the extra night in Southwest Florida, life could always be worse. “I’m not gonna worry about it in light of what’s going on in this area. It’s, you know, not home when you want to be kind of get over it, I guess. Right?”

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