A catering truck hit an Air India aircraft at Newark airport in the US on Wednesday evening. The airplane, Boeing 777-300ER, was getting prepared to fly as AI 191 with 335 passengers to Mumbai.
While AI will seek compensation from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which runs the Newark Liberty International Airport, the airline faces a major handicap with an ultra-long range aircraft down.
“The aircraft has been severely damaged in the mishap and had to be grounded. Alternate arrangements are being made for the passengers and the aircraft was being prepared for take off when it was hit,” said an official.
AI is worried that the B-777 which got damaged in the US may stay grounded for a while as the authorities there will take their time to certify it airworthy again.
“Such things like aircraft getting hit by ground vehicles or passenger boarding ramps flying around during strong storms are common at Indian airports. But something like this happening in New York is unimaginable,” said a senior pilot.
The national carrier has suffered this setback at a time when it is facing intense shortage of cabin crew, leading to serious flight delays.
On Tuesday, a number of long-haul flights were delayed at New Delhi airport owing to this issue. In some cases, pilots were also holed up inside the cockpits waiting for cabin crew so that their flights could take off.
- See more at: http://www.canindia.com/2014/06/air-india-jet-hit-by-truck-at-newark-airport-damaged/#sthash.jJ8jZf5S.dpuf
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