By Lauren Mascarenhas

(CNN) — A Delta Air Lines flight to Columbia, South Carolina, was forced to return to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday morning after a “haze” was observed inside the plane, according to officials.

The plane returned to the airport around 9 a.m. after the crew reported possible smoke in the flightdeck, according to the Federal Flight Administration, which is investigating the incident.

The Boeing 717 aircraft, which was carrying 94 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots, deployed slides on the runway during the evacuation, Delta told CNN.

“The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when a haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure,” a Delta spokesperson told CNN in a statement. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience.”

The airline said it is investigating the cause of the haze.

“When the plane took off it began to fill up with haze and (it) was hard to breathe at times,” Johnny, a passenger on the flight who asked for only his first name to be used, told CNN.

An emergency was declared to get priority handling from air traffic control, according to the airline.

Another passenger, Kristin Morris, told CNN haze began to fill the plane five to 10 minutes after taking off from Atlanta.

“A few of us passengers started to question why or what was going on. People started screaming ‘smoke, smoke, smoke,’” Morris said. “We were in the air for about 20 minutes, and it seemed to take a while before we landed.”

According to Morris, after everyone was evacuated from the plane they were put in a conference room as Delta tried to figure out what caused the haze. Morris said the passengers were eventually let go without receiving an answer.

After the plane returned to the airport, Atlanta Fire Rescue assisted in the deplaning of passengers and crew members, a spokesperson for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said in a statement to CNN.

Video taken outside the plane shows passengers evacuating.

Delta said its teams would help customers rebook flights to their final destinations.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said the incident caused moderate impact to airport operations.

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
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