Porter Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Regina because of smoke smell in cabin

A planeload of Porter Airlines passengers got an unexpected detour to Regina on Tuesday night when their plane made an emergency landing.

The Embraer 195 jet had been cruising at 38,000 feet over Montana, en route from Hamilton, Ont., to Vancouver, when it suddenly made a steep descent around 7:30 p.m. CST, then diverted to Regina International Airport.

Porter Airlines confirmed the plane cabin smelled of smoke.

The pilots landed the plane safely in Regina at 8:33 p.m. CST.

"The captain elected to land in Regina as a precaution due to the smell of smoke in the cabin, although none was visible," a spokesperson for Porter Airlines wrote in an email to CBC News on Wednesday morning.

The aircraft is recorded on Flight Radar 24 as descending at 10,000 feet per minute at one point.

The plane turns directly toward Regina during this descent, then levels off around 7,000 feet for some time. 

Then, the aircraft turns as if it might be heading to Calgary and climbs back up to 14,000 feet. 

Then the aircraft turned toward Regina again, and the pilots began a more normal descent toward YQR, landing safely at 8:33 p.m.

Regina police, fire and EMS responded to the airport shortly after the pilots declared an emergency. 

James Bogusz, president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, said none of the responding crews identified any smoke coming from the aircraft. Porter Airlines has not yet confirmed what caused the smell of smoke.

Passengers on their way this afternoon

Gurpreet Purba, a passenger on the plane, had to take a day off work due to the layover.

"Luckily the cabin crew members, they were very co-operative," Purba said. "They told us keep calm and we are just landing in Regina right now. It was really scary for us."

A spokesperson for Porter said the 85 passengers and five crew members onboard the flight stayed in hotels overnight.

Porter has flown out a new aircraft that touched down in Regina Wednesday morning, said Bogusz. 

He said passengers are set to board around 3:15 CST and continue on to Vancouver. 

"Hopefully those passengers can get on with where they need to go," said Bogusz. "I'm sure it was quite concerning for them and certainly disruptive to their travel. But hopefully they got to enjoy Regina — maybe unexpectedly this time."