A United Airlines flight from Sarasota, Florida, had to make an emergency landing in the same state shortly after take-off, reportedly due to an open door light illuminating in mid-air.

The emergency landing involved an Airbus A319, which landed safely around 4.35pm on Wednesday.

The flight from Sarasota, Florida, was heading to Chicago, when the open door warning light reportedly came on, forcing pilots to reroute the plane carrying 123 passengers to the nearest airport.

It landed at Tampa International Airport just under an hour after take-off, according to flight tracking website Flight Aware. The flight to Chicago was meant to take around three hours.

The incident occurred less than a week after a window and chunk of fuselage blew out of an Alaska Airlines passenger plane shortly after take-off in Oregon.

That issue led to the Federal Aviation Administration grounding some Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, to allow further safety tests to take place.

After the incident on the Alaska Airlines flight, United Airlines found loose bolts on plug doors on multiple Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft during subsequent inspections.

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A United Airlines spokesperson told the New York Post the emergency landing on Wednesday was made “as a precaution this afternoon to address a possible mechanical issue”.

While a Tampa International Airport spokesperson told the publication its dispatchers received a call from pilots on the aircraft, saying the warning light had come on and that they needed to make an emergency landing.

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Flight Aware data shows that the plane was grounded in Tampa until 6.11pm, when it set off for its original destination, Chicago O’Hare International, and landed safely two hours and 45 minutes later.

The same aircraft was used on Thursday afternoon for another passenger flight from Sarasota to Chicago and arrived on time.

Sky News has contacted United Airlines for comment.

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