Southwest Flight Diverted After Cabin Window Cracks

A Southwest Airlines flight to Newark was diverted to Cleveland on Wednesday because of a crack in one of the aircraft’s windows.

Southwest flight WN957 was flying from Chicago Midway to Newark Liberty airport when the crack was spotted and it diverted to Cleveland-Hopkins airport where it made a standard landing. Southwest in a statement said no emergency landing was declared.

After the crack was reported to flight attendants, passengers in the immediate vicinity of the damaged window were moved to other seats, according to passengers on the flight.

The Dallas-based airline said the Boeing 737 had been taken out of service for maintenance, and the 81 passengers onboard transferred to another aircraft to complete their journey.

Southwest said it was reviewing “a potential crack to the outer pane of a window.” It said that there are multiple layers of panes in each aircraft window.

The timing of this incident is unfortunate for Southwest after an engine failure on a flight to Dallas last month resulted in the death of a passenger. Fan blades on the type of engine involved in that incident are now required to be inspected after the FAA issued an emergency directive to check older engines.