Fixing WestJet plane in St. Maarten likely ‘very difficult project’: aviation experts

By Canadian Press on September 9, 2025.

An aviation expert and former pilot says it will be a challenge to repair the WestJet plane that landed roughly in St. Maarten on the weekend and shut down the Caribbean island’s airport for a day.

Keith Mackey says the next step is to move the plane to a safe facility and assess whether or not it can be salvaged.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced Monday that it’s sending a team of investigators to the island to assess when the plane from Toronto barrelled onto the runway of Princess Juliana International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

Mackey says he expects a preliminary report based on the plane’s flight data and cockpit recordings from its black box should be released in the next couple of weeks.

He says there was nothing unusual about the way the plane approached the runway and he suspects the cause of the crash was a mechanical error.

WestJet has said it is “fully co-operating” with local authorities and will provide updates when more information is available, though the company hasn’t released any new details since the weekend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2025.

Vanessa Tiberio, The Canadian Press