Passengers Randy Hall, left, and Lianne Clark, from Mount Uniacke, Canada stand waiting at an airport hotel after Air Canada flight 624 left the runway on landing at Stanfield International Airport in Halifax on Sunday, March 29, 2015. The flight had 132 passengers and five crew members.[Photo/IC]

Cunningham said the plane hit an antenna array, shearing the main landing gear off before sliding on its belly onto the runway for another 1,100 feet before coming to a stop.

Cunningham said there was significant damage to the plane and could not rule out weather as a factor, although Air Canada stressed that the plane was safe to fly in the snowstorm.

Images posted by the Transportation Safety Board show the plane on its belly with heavy damage to its nose and an engine crumpled under a damaged wing.