Horizon Canceling 127 Q400 Flights Today for Landing Gear Inspections

Horizon canceled 120 flights yesterday out of its daily average of 500.

Horizon Bombardier Q400 (DH4). Photo courtesy: Horizon Air

(SEATTLE) - In response to a Transport Canada airworthiness directive (AD), Horizon Air initiated the inspection of the landing gear of its Bombardier Aerospace Q400 turboprops.

To allow sufficient time for the inspection process and the reaccommodation of customers whose travels are being affected, Horizon announced it will be making additional flight cancellations through Friday.

The AD was produced in the wake of two landing gear failure incidents involving SAS-affiliated airlines in Europe.

Horizon, which has operated the Canadian-manufactured Q400 since 2001 and now has 33 in its fleet, has never experienced any issues like those SAS recently encountered.

Horizon canceled 120 flights yesterday out of its daily average of 500.

Horizon is canceling 127 flights on Thursday, and those will appear in central reservations systems by 5:30 p.m. today.

By Friday, the airline expects to begin the restoration of normal operations as inspected aircraft are brought back online.

Horizon is asking its customers flying on those days to check on the status of their flights via horizonair.com or by calling the reservations center at 800-547-9308.

Through Friday, customers on affected Horizon flights are being offered refunds, being allowed to cancel at no charge, or are being reaccommodated without any change fee.

Aircraft will be returned to service and Horizon flights will be reinstated as the inspections are completed successfully.

Horizon currently operates the Q400 in 74-and 76-seat configurations. Horizon operates two other aircraft types in its all-Bombardier fleet, neither of which is subject to these inspections: 70-seat CRJ-700 regional jets and 37-seat Q200 turboprops.

Horizon serves 48 cities throughout California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and British Columbia and Alberta.