Southwest Airlines Flight 3396 lost power in its No. 2 engine shortly after taking off from John Wayne Airport (SNA)-Orange County on Friday, November 6, 2026, prompting the crew to declare an emergency and squawk 7700. The Boeing 737-700, registration N281WN, was operating a scheduled service from Santa Ana to Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) with 97 people on board, and diverted to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where it landed safely.
Flight data shows the aircraft pushed back at 11:49, 14 minutes behind its scheduled 11:35 departure, and turned southwest after the engine issue, circling over the South Bay. The jet never climbed above 5,000 feet (1,524 metres), and after 18 minutes above the Pacific Ocean it was cleared to land, touching down on Runway 25L at LAX after a total flight time of 38 minutes. The Federal Aviation Administration said: "Southwest Airlines Flight 3396 landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport around 12:25 p.m. local time after the crew reported an engine issue."
Emergency services met the aircraft on arrival and passengers disembarked with no reports of injury; affected travellers were reaccommodated onto a replacement flight to San Jose scheduled to depart at 1:13 p.m. Southwest said its pilots received an engine-related maintenance indication, followed established procedures and landed uneventfully. N281WN, delivered in June 2007 as the 500th Boeing 737 for Southwest, is configured with 143 seats in an all-economy layout and powered by two CFMI CFM56-7B24 engines; Southwest operates around 270 Boeing 737-700s, making it the world's largest operator of the type.