With strict protocols in place, airports around the world are generally efficient at keeping aircraft safe and secure for operations. However, every once in a while, an incident occurs in which airplanes on the ground suffer damage, quite often from the surrounding ground vehicle. And something similar happened to a JetBlue aircraft preparing for a flight recently at Boston airport.
JetBlue aircraft damaged at Boston airport
On September 30, a JetBlue
aircraft at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) was preparing to depart for Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) when it was damaged by a ground vehicle.
According to a report by Boston 25 News, the Embraer E190 plane was readying for its departure for Pittsburgh when a piece of pushback equipment struck the aircraft. Naturally, any physical damage to an aircraft requires a thorough inspection before it can be deemed safe to fly again, so the aircraft was taken out of service.
Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock
The plane involved in the incident is an almost 17-year-old Embraer E190 registered N283JB, per ch-aviation. It was scheduled to operate flight B61585 to Pittsburgh with a departure of 06:55. The airline arranged another E190 registered N266JB, which eventually took off after more than two and half hours of delay.
The damage to N283JB was apparently not major, as the aircraft was put back in service and has performed several flights after the incident, according to data from Flightradar24.
Not the first time
This isn’t the first time a JetBlue aircraft has been damaged at Boston airport. Earlier this year, two JetBlue Airbus A321 planes collided on the ground at BOS when both aircraft were at the de-icing pad. Both planes had a similar departure time, and the collision caused minor damage to one of the A321’s sharklets.
But other airlines have also been involved in such incidents. Recently, an airline catering truck struck an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-700 in Seattle. From the available footage, the truck seemed to be traveling at a considerable speed and did not appear to slow down before it made contact with the plane.
In June this year, an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 was hit by a garbage truck at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. The plane was bound for American Airlines’ largest hub, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), and the flight was delayed by more than six hours until a replacement aircraft was arranged.
In 2022, a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 freighter suffered damage to one of its wings at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) when it struck a pole that sliced through it.
Other JetBlue news
JetBlue has recently been optimizing its network and
cutting down unprofitable routes and focusing on its key focus areas
in the Northeast United States. In an effort to turn things around in a couple of years, the carrier has been gradually removing unprofitable routes and focusing more on some of its traditional locations in the Northeast and new international services.
Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock
JetBlue also recently celebrated 20 years of service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) on Tuesday. It commenced service to PHX on October 1, 2004, with one of its Airbus A320s, titled “Blue Skies Ahead,” for the inaugural flight two decades ago.