Air Canada flight safely lands in Madrid with damaged engine

An Air Canada Boeing 767 aircraft with 128 passengers on board made a safe emergency landing at Madrid Airport on Monday evening.

The Toronto-bound flight AC837 had departed from the Spanish capital in the early afternoon but had to request an emergency return after one of its two engines was damaged and a tire ruptured during takeoff.

Guido Fioravantti, from New York, said his father was on the plane and that he had confirmed the safe landing.

"Landed safely, everything is ok!" Fioravantti told The Associated Press.

There was no immediate information on what had caused the malfunction The plane spent close to four hours flying in circles near Madrid, burning off fuel before the emergency landing.

Spain's Defense Ministry dispatched an F18 fighter jet to evaluate the damage done to the landing gear.

Emergency vehicles approached the aircraft on one of the tarmacs of the Adolfo Surez-Barajas international airport soon after it landed at 7.13 p.m. (1813 GMT).

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, the airline said the plane experienced an engine issue shortly after takeoff from the same airport, as well as a ruptured tire one of 10 on the Boeing 767-300.

It added that the aircraft is designed to operate on one engine and our pilots are fully trained for this eventuality."