A Delta flight from London to Seattle was diverted to Yakima's airport Wednesday because of inclement weather and low fuel.
Flight DL21, an Airbus A330 carrying 166 passengers and 13 crew members, landed on the Yakima Air Terminal tarmac at 8:05 p.m. Wednesday, according to information from the Yakima Police Department.
Homeland Security agents and eight customs agents were called in to help process the international arrivals.
Seattle had dense fog on Wednesday night, leading to flight delays and cancellations. Flight DL21 had been circling Sea-Tac with limited fuel before it was diverted to Yakima.
Passengers were given pizza during their wait in Yakima. Delta sent another plane, which flew the passengers to Seattle at 3:30 a.m. The original plane remained in Yakima and was expected to depart around Thursday afternoon. The wait was because of the fuel crew.
Rob Hodgman, the Yakima airport director, said the Yakima Air Terminal is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's primary diversion site. He said while diversions are common, this is the first international flight to land in Yakima for as long as anyone working at the terminal can remember.
The 218-foot-long, 281-seat airplane is the largest commercial airliner to land at Yakima's airport. Hodgman said the biggest airplanes to land at the air terminal were three Boeing C-17 Globemasters that participated in an Army training exercise in 2021.
The customs agents came from the west side of the state by car and arrived around midnight. At that point, the passengers were processed and let into the terminal. Hodgman said about 30 passengers were processed before a regularly scheduled Alaska Air arrival caused them to pause.
"The terminal was very full," Hodgman said. "It was almost standing room only."
At around 12:30 a.m., a Delta Airbus 321, a smaller plane, arrived at the terminal to shuttle the passengers from the London flight to Seattle. The flight crew began boarding passengers onto the new plane at around 1 a.m.
After a two-hour wait, due mostly to pre-flight inspections that are usually done ahead of time, the airplane departed for Seattle at 3:30 a.m.
Sea-Tac had delays and diversions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because of fog, said SeaTac administrative specialist Danan Hoskins.
"I don't expect anymore, but that depends on the weather," Hoskins said.
Airport capacity
Hodgman said while the terminal itself is not designed to accommodate an airplane as large as the A330, the terminal's tarmac is rated for its weight.
He added that the unexpected landing of such a large plane reinforced his thought that the terminal's upcoming remodel should accommodate larger flights.
In August, Hodgman met with Yakima City Council members and discussed immediate and long-term plans for the facility's passenger terminal, which was built in the 1950s and relies on "dilapidated and outdated infrastructure."
The first phase of improvements, expected to begin in late spring and early summer of 2024, include an upgrade to existing building systems such as the roof, electrical, water, sewer, fire suppression, telecommunications and HVAC, followed by renovation and expansion of the second floor.
City and airport officials will travel to Washington, D.C., next month to seek funding for additional terminal improvements.
