Repairing a WestJet Airlines Ltd. plane that landed roughly in St. Maarten on the weekend and shut down the Caribbean island’s airport for a day will be a challenge, say aviation experts.

Videos of WestJet Flight WS2276 from Toronto flooded social media earlier this week, depicting the moments of the aircraft’s final descent over bright blue waters near Maho Beach before it landed roughly on its right landing gear and came to a stop on the runway of Princess Juliana International Airport on Sunday afternoon.

Though it was removed on Monday afternoon from the area of runway where it came to a stop, the Boeing 737-800 plane remains dormant on the airport’s tarmac, awaiting repair or further movement.

Fixing a plane on the small and isolated island located approximately 300 kilometres east of Puerto Rico may prove to be a “difficult project,” said Keith Mackey, an aviation expert and former pilot.

 

Members of the flight crew gather near a WestJet plane after a hard landing at Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten on Sept. 7, 2025.HO/THE CANADIAN PRESS

“There’s not much material or talent down there to do it, so everything would have to be brought in probably from Canada, the parts and everything else,” Mackey said.

“So they’ll have to make a careful determination as to the extent of the damage versus what is going to be cost-effective.” 

The next step is to move the plane to a safe facility that is protected from wind and water and equipped with sufficient power and materials to assess whether it can be salvaged, said Mackey.

If the plane cannot be fixed, Mackey said, it may need to be scrapped.

Repairs to the aircraft would go beyond fixing parts that were broken upon impact and resetting the inflatable slides that were let out, said Doug Perovic, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto. 

“They’re going to need to check and see whether there’s any other collateral damage to the aircraft and to the structure of the fuselage,” Perovic said.