HONOLULU — A flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu was delayed more than 16 hours after employees found damage to a fan blade on the aircraft, Hawaiian Airlines said.
Hawaiian flight 7 arrived at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport early Saturday morning. It was originally scheduled to leave Las Vegas on Friday morning, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported .
The damage was discovered by a crew performing a detailed visual inspection of the Airbus A330-220, said Ann Botticelli, an airline spokeswoman. The damage was likely caused by debris on the runway.
The blade was replaced, requiring the part to be flown in to Las Vegas and resulting in the extended delay, Botticelli said.
Passengers were kept at the gate for several hours Friday while the mechanical problem was investigated. They were later shuttled to a hotel and given a room and meal vouchers, said Dave Reardon, a sports reporter for the newspaper, who was on the flight.
“They were apologizing profusely,” Reardon said. “They did the best they could under a trying situation.”
The flight departed Las Vegas at 2 a.m. Saturday and landed in Honolulu a few hours later.