Two of Miami International Airport’s four runways remained closed Monday morning after an Amazon Air cargo aircraft operated by North Carolina-based 21 Air overran a runway during landing, struck several vehicles and caught fire. The accident left five people dead and five others seriously injured.
Miami airport warned that flight operations would remain disrupted throughout the day. The runway closures, combined with the Federal Aviation Administration’s temporary suspension of flight activity on Sunday, prevented aircraft and flight crews from arriving on schedule. Local news reports said some flights had been diverted to Orlando International Airport.
Road access around the airport was also affected. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office said at about 9:30 a.m. ET that NW 67th Avenue, between NW 25th Street and NW 36th Street on the airport’s northwest side, remained closed.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 767-300 medium widebody freighter operated by charter carrier 21 Air. It had departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and overran the runway at around 2 p.m., before colliding with vehicles on a nearby road, according to the FAA and emergency officials.
Firefighters rescued the two pilots from the cockpit while crews worked to cover the rear of the aircraft with foam. Flight data showed that the aircraft was traveling at approximately 130 mph when it left the usable portion of the runway. The pilots did not declare an emergency before landing, according to CNN. The diagonal runway used for the landing is more than 9,000 feet long.
The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team of specialists to Miami to investigate the runway excursion and determine what led to the crash.
More than 200 emergency personnel responded to the accident and worked to extinguish the fire. Several hours later, however, emergency crews were still dealing with a fuel leak. According to the Miami-Dade County Fire & Rescue Department, one person became trapped underneath one of the vehicles involved in the crash and had to be freed by specialized technical rescue teams.
The cause of the accident has not yet been established. Thunderstorms and wind gusts reaching up to 30 mph were recorded in the area at the time, according to the National Weather Service. Investigators have not determined whether weather conditions contributed to the accident.
21 Air CEO Keith Winters said the company was “devastated” by the accident and extended condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died.
“Our immediate priorities are supporting those affected, assisting the authorities, and ensuring that accurate information is communicated as it becomes available,” Winters said in a statement published on the company’s website. “We are cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and local authorities. The circumstances of the accident are under investigation.”
21 Air is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, while its primary operating base is Miami International Airport. The carrier is owned by Jime Crane, a longtime logistics executive who also owns Crane Worldwide Logistics and the Houston Astros professional baseball team.
The airline began operating flights for Amazon in November 2024. According to the Aero Transport Data Bank, 21 Air currently operates nine freighter aircraft. The carrier had 16 aircraft earlier this year but has since leased some of them to other airlines.
The Boeing 767-300 involved in Sunday’s accident, registered as N1997A, was built in 1994. It initially operated with passenger airlines before being converted in 2015 to carry cargo on its main deck.
The aircraft has a particular connection to Amazon’s air operation. It was the first aircraft Amazon placed into its fleet in 2016, when the company launched a private cargo operation aimed at accelerating the delivery of e-commerce packages across the United States.
Amazon now operates a fleet of more than 100 cargo jets, although the company is not technically an airline in the strictest sense. Amazon does not hold an air operator certificate and does not employ its own pilots for these flights. Instead, it relies on contractors such as 21 Air to operate the aircraft.
Amazon also expressed its condolences following the crash.
“We’re heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport,” the company said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss.”
Aviation experts who reviewed video of the landing and spoke to the Associated Press questioned why the pilots did not abort the landing and perform another go-around if they were experiencing difficulties getting the aircraft safely onto the runway. The Associated Press report was also referenced by CNBC.
The Miami accident comes after another fatal freighter crash involving a major cargo carrier. In November, a UPS McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 freighter crashed after losing an engine during takeoff at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky. That accident killed three people aboard the aircraft and 12 people on the ground.
