Airlines

Alaska Airlines suffered its second cabin incident in three days yesterday when it performed an emergency evacuation on a Boeing MD-80 after smoke filled the cabin on a flight from its Seattle base to Long Beach, California.

The smoke filled the aircraft shortly after flight 338 landed at Long Beach Airport at 18:06. The pilots ordered an evacuation via the emergency slides while the aircraft was on the taxiway. All 140 passengers and five crew members were evacuated and later transported by bus to the airport terminal.

Airport paramedics treated two passengers and one flight attendant for injuries sustained during the evacuation.

The incident comes after an incident on Friday Boeing 737-400 operated by Alaska Airlines from Vancouver to San Francisco was diverted to Seattle after the cabin failed to pressurise properly on 18 August.

Flight 690 left Vancouver at 07:10 and following problems pressurising, the pilots chose to descend below 10,000ft (3,300m) and diverted to Seattle, where it landed safely at 08:20. Ten passengers and three crew members were checked for ear pain. Some of the passengers and crew are seeking further evaluation at nearby medical facilities.