Terrified passengers screamed, sobbed, prayed aloud and vomited into sick bags as their Avianca flight aborted two attempts to land at one of South America’s most notoriously difficult airports — with videos of the harrowing scenes going viral across social media after the aircraft was forced to turn back to Bogotá.
Avianca flight AV9401 was covering the route between Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport and the Antonio Nariño Airport in Pasto on 26 May when the aircraft encountered serious difficulties as it approached the runway due to severe adverse weather conditions. Footage captured by passengers and shared widely on TikTok, Instagram and X showed people clinging to their seats in terror as the plane was battered by blizzards, thick fog and strong winds during both attempts to touch down.
The videos quickly went viral, with hundreds of users reacting to the scenes inside the aircraft and commenting on the difficulty of landing in Pasto when weather conditions are unfavourable. Crew members could be heard urging passengers to “breathe deeply” as the situation deteriorated. Bad weather conditions caused severe tension on board, leading to some passengers fainting and suffering acute anxiety attacks.
Antonio Nariño Airport is surrounded by mountains and subject to rapid weather changes, strong winds and low visibility — conditions that conspired against both landing attempts on Tuesday. The runway is constructed on an elevated plateau more than 1,800 metres above sea level, forcing pilots to execute complex manoeuvres on approach that leave little margin for error in poor conditions. The airport is widely regarded as one of the most operationally challenging in commercial aviation in South America.
After two failed approaches, the crew opted to return to Bogotá for safety reasons. Once weather conditions improved in the south of the country, the flight departed again and landed successfully in Pasto at 2.37pm local time without further incident. No injuries were reported.
In a statement, Avianca said: “The flight AV9401 on the Bogotá–Pasto route on 26 May, due to meteorological conditions at Antonio Nariño Airport not being favourable for operating under the airline’s safety standards, the crew made two approaches without completing the landing. When conditions are not safe, pilots must abort the manoeuvre and try again or divert. Safety is our priority.”
The incident comes amid a series of flight disruptions affecting passengers in recent days. In a separate incident, an EasyJet flight from Hurghada, Egypt to Luton was forced to make an emergency landing in Rome after a passenger left their mobile phone charging on a powerbank stored in their hold luggage. The 180 passengers on board were alarmed when the captain announced there was “something we shouldn’t have in the hold” before diverting to Italy. Passenger Paul Casterton, 57, travelling with his partner Laura Bartlett, 61, told The Sun: “Suddenly the plane changed direction and made a descent. It was hard not to fear the worst. There was almost a sense of relief when the woman confessed. Thank goodness it wasn’t a bomb in the hold.”
