Oven fire forces American Airlines flight into early landing

A small fire broke out on board an American Airlines flight on Sunday, causing the plane to land early, well short of its intended destination.

The fire was contained to the oven in the forward galley, NBC News reported.

American Airlines Flight 885 was traveling from Austin, Texas to Charlotte, N.C. but quickly diverted to Houston, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.

The aircraft departed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 1:56 p.m. and landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 3:06 p.m.

“The aircraft landed safely and without incident, and taxied to the gate under its own power,” American told Houston NBC affiliate KPRC in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and appreciate our team members for their professionalism.”

No one was killed or injured in the incident.

“After approximately 30 minutes, the alert was terminated, and the aircraft was declared fire-safe,” a Houston airport official told NBC News.

However, it did create a massive travel headache. Flight 885 eventually took off from Houston at 10:59 p.m. Central time and arrived in Charlotte at 1:46 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, according to FlightAware. The flight was more than seven hours late getting into Charlotte.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-800 series, different from the Boeing 737 9 Max that had a hole in the main cabin after departing from Portland, Ore. in the first week of January.