'Foul odor' prompts emergency landing at Lubbock airport

A “foul odor” prompted a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas to make an emergency landing Wednesday afternoon in Lubbock.

The Spirit Airlines Airbus 320 with 94 people on board made the emergency landing after 4 p.m. at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport out of an “abundance of caution” after passengers and crew reported the odor during the flight, said Paul Berry, a spokesman for the airline. The odor was believed to be associated with the plane’s air conditioning system in what Berry said was a rare but “not unprecedented occurrence.”

The odor was non-toxic, he said.

“Nobody was ever in any danger,” Berry said.

No injuries were reported and no passengers or crew members were medically treated.

One crew member did report being fatigued.

“But that was probably unrelated,” Berry said.

Emergency crews did respond to the incident, but the plane landed safely and went to an airport terminal, said Steve Holland with Lubbock Fire Rescue.

The passengers de-planed and, by shortly after 5 p.m., another Spirit Airlines plane was responding to the airport to take the passengers and crew to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Berry could not elaborate in detail about the cause of the foul odor, but said aging plane air conditioning system filters have been known to cause unpleasant odors.

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