On Monday, 23 February, a Delta Air Lines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Atlanta after passengers reported seeing smoke or haze inside the cabin.
Delta Flight DL876 was scheduled to travel from Atlanta, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina. However, shortly after take-off, passengers noticed an unexplained haze inside the Boeing 717 aircraft. Videos circulating on social media clearly show the smoke inside the cabin, with passengers covering their mouths and noses.
🇺🇸@US — ✈️ A Delta flight carrying 94 passengers and five crew members left Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport headed for Columbia, South Carolina, before it was forced to return to Atlanta due to a "haze" in the passenger cabin. Passenger video shows the haze aboard the flight… pic.twitter.com/Q6ptDmEnjF
— 🔴 Wars and news 🛰️ (@EUFreeCitizen) February 24, 2025
“A few of us passengers started to question why or what was going on. People started screaming ‘smoke, smoke, smoke,’” one of the passengers, Kristin Morris, told CNN. “We were in the air for about 20 minutes, and it seemed to take a while before we landed.”
The flight crew declared an emergency, allowing the aircraft to receive priority landing clearance at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. At the time of the incident, 98 passengers, two pilots, and three crew members were on board.
🚨✈️ A Delta flight forced to return to Atlanta airport after 'haze' fills cabin. (Fox)
— Roger D. Hudson (@RogerHudsonCO) February 24, 2025
I’m never gonna get anyone to fly with me… pic.twitter.com/bOwpmS7Snd
Upon landing, emergency evacuation slides were deployed to evacuate all passengers and crew safely. Travellers were then escorted to the terminal and rebooked on alternative flights to their final destinations.
“The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when a haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience”, a Delta spokesperson said in a statement following the emergency landing.
A string of smoke-related incidents
This emergency landing occurred just two days after another smoke-related incident on a Delta flight. On Saturday, a Delta aircraft bound for Australia was forced to return to Los Angeles shortly after take-off due to smoke detected in the galley.
Additionally, another Delta-operated aircraft caught fire upon impact last week after crashing in Toronto. While all passengers survived, 21 people sustained injuries. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are conducting investigations into that incident.
Delta has yet to comment on whether these incidents are related. However, the airline is expected to cooperate fully with aviation authorities as investigations continue.
