An arrival from Europe ended with a runway excursion in Costa Rica on February 21st 2026, when an Iberojet Airbus A350-900 briefly veered off the centerline after touchdown and struck runway edge lights before regaining alignment.
The Iberojet Airbus A350-900, registered EC-NBO, was operating flight E9-857 from Madrid to San José. After landing on runway 07 at Juan Santamaría International Airport, the aircraft drifted to the right side of the runway and made contact with edge lighting before the crew steered it back to the centerline.
The jet taxied to the apron without further difficulty. Airport authorities confirmed that an arriving Iberojet aircraft from Madrid had been involved in an incident affecting the runway lighting system, but reported that the aircraft itself proceeded normally to the stand.
Despite the runway contact, the A350 later departed for its return flight to Madrid with a delay of approximately three and a half hours.
On February 27th 2026, Costa Rica’s Unidad de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes (UAI) classified the occurrence as a serious incident and opened a formal investigation, describing the event as a runway excursion during landing on runway 07.
Runway excursions involving large widebody aircraft can pose significant risk, particularly when runway lighting or edge infrastructure is struck. Investigators are expected to analyze landing performance data, runway surface conditions, and crew inputs to determine the factors that led to the temporary deviation.
