Southwest cites exhaust issue in emergency landing

PHOENIX – A Southwest Airlines spokeswoman says an engine exhaust problem caused a jetliner carrying 134 people to land in Phoenix with just one engine.

The Boeing 737 en route from El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix landed without incident at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday and taxied to the gate under its own power. No one was hurt.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Ashley Dillon says there was an "issue with engine exhaust" on Southwest Flight 427 that caused one of the plane's two engines to go out. She says a flight attendant noticed the problem while looking out a window.

Dillon says the captain notified passengers and explained that they'd see fire trucks on stand-by waiting on the runway.

She says the plane was built to withstand such malfunctions, and therefore the landing was "uneventful." She says maintenance crews are examining the engine.