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A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet was diverted on Sunday (January 28) "due to a cracked windshield," the Federal Aviation Administration in a statement shared on its website.
United Airlines Flight 1627, which took off from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and was scheduled to land in Washington, D.C., instead landed in Denver, Colorado, after experiencing the emergency.
"United Airlines Flight 1627 landed safely at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Sunday, Jan. 28, after diverting due to a cracked windshield," the FAA said in its statement. "The plane landed around 1:10 p.m. local time. The flight was traveling from Harry Reid International Airport in Nevada to Dulles International Airport. Contact the airline for additional information."
United Airlines confirmed that the plane experienced a "maintenance issue" in a statement to the New York Post. A total 173 people were on the flight at the time including 166 passengers and seven crew members, the airline confirmed.
“After safely landing, customers deplaned normally and a plane change occurred,” United Airlines said via the New York Post.
“The flight then departed Denver to Dulles,” the airline added, which was backed by Flight Aware data showing it had landed more than four and a half hours later than initially scheduled.
Denver and Dulles are both among United Airlines' eight United States hubs listed on its official website. The incident took place days after United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby publicly shunned Boeing after the FAA grounded its 737 Max 9 planes after a panel blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday (January 26).