Delta flight makes emergency landing at MSP following mechanical issue

ST. PAUL — A Delta Air Lines flight was forced to return to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport shortly after takeoff to Amsterdam on Sunday evening, Feb. 2, following a mechanical issue.

Delta flight 160 landed without incident around 5 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The landing came after pilots of the Airbus A330 — a wide-bodied aircraft — reported a mechanical issue with the aircraft’s flaps, according to Delta.

All 272 passengers onboard have been booked on other flights to Amsterdam as of Monday, according to the airline.

“We apologize to our customers for this delay in their travels,” the airline said in a statement.

The incident comes less than a week after a crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29 killed 67 people. It was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.

The Federal Aviation Administration handles an average of 45,000 daily flights, with nearly 3 million passengers flying in and out of U.S. airports on a daily basis in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the FAA.