Watch Now


Vancouver airport clears damaged Amazon Air cargo jet from runway area

North runway remains closed after accident

Amazon has dozens of Boeing 767 freighters (pictured) in its private airline that are operated by third-party carriers. One of them couldn’t slow down on landing at Vancouver airport in Canada and went off the runway Tuesday. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

(UPDATED 9:15 p.m. ET)

The Amazon Air freighter aircraft that ran off the north runway at Vancouver International Airport two days ago has been safely removed from buffer area, the airport authority announced Thursday night.

The north runway at the Canadian airport remains closed to air traffic as officials assess systems and infrastructure. Passenger and cargo aircraft continue to experience flight delays with only a single runway in operation.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board allowed crews in the morning to begin the process of relocating the Boeing 767 freighter from the runway area after gathering evidence for their accident investigation.


Specialists from Air Canada’s heavy aircraft removal crew lifted the nose of the aircraft from the mud, the airport said. The plane’s landing gear broke when the plane left the runway. More than 50 people from various organizations, including aircraft operator Cargojet, are participating in recovery efforts. Removing the cargo jet required offloading cargo, constructing temporary roadways and staging pads, setting up cranes to lift the aircraft and dispatching tow crews to transport it safely to a nearby hangar for cleaning and further inspection.  

Cargojet, the largest all-cargo operator in Canada, was operating the Amazon-branded plane under a contract with the online marketplace. The plane arrived in the early morning hours from Hamilton, Ontario. A report by The Aviation Herald said the pilots reported problems with their wing flaps prior to landing on the wet runway, but it is unclear why speedbrakes and other steps weren’t sufficient to prevent the plane from overshooting a 9,900-foot runway by nearly 1,900 feet.

None of the three crew members were injured. 

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.


Cargojet charter demand jumps 60% on e-commerce, supply chain delays

Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He was runner up for News Journalist and Supply Chain Journalist of the Year in the Seahorse Freight Association's 2024 journalism award competition. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist. He won the group's Environmental Journalist of the Year award in 2014 and was the 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at ekulisch@freightwaves.com