Flight bound for sunny L.A. forced to land in Arctic Canada

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Passengers aboard a Swiss Air flight bound for Los Angeles were close to trading in their sunscreen for snowshoes after the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Arctic Canada.

Swiss Air Flight 40, a Boeing 777, left Zurich with more than 200 passengers and 17 crew this week. The flight path on the direct flight to Los Angeles took the plane over Greenland and the northern part of Canada before turning toward Southern California.

When the pilots lost the use of one of the plane's engines, they were forced to make an emergency landing – and the closest airport was in Iqaluit, the capital of Canadian territory of Nunavat, north of Quebec.

The plane landed without incident.

Initially, airport officials planned to let the passengers get off the plane and spend the night in Iqaluit, allowing for some tourist time, provided anyone was willing to brave the -20 degrees temperature.

Ultimately, passengers were kept on board the plane and Swiss Air sent a replacement aircraft from New York, which arrived around 5:30 a.m. the following day and took the passengers to Los Angeles, as planned.

Local officials in Iqaluit expressed regret their overnight visitors weren't able to see any of the area, save what was visible out the airplane windows.