Dallas-Austin Flight Delayed 7 Hours After De-Icing Truck Hits American Airlines Boeing 737

American Airlines passengers flying from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Austin Bergstrom International Airport can usually arrive in the Texan capital city less than an hour after taking off, but travelers on Tuesday’s flight were not so fortunate. Their journey stretched to more than seven hours after the operating aircraft came into contact with a deicing truck.

A long night for passengers on AA576

Apart from those at the airport, the first most people knew about the incident came via this X post, which initially said the deicing truck hit the American Airlines Boeing 737. Some hours later, that information was subsequently changed to indicate it was the 737 that hit the deicing truck, although that is not what the airline told Simple Flying.

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 at San Juan International Airport SJU shutterstock_713743060

Photo: RaksyBH | Shutterstock

As I look at that post, it has had nearly 3,000 views, so plenty of people were left with the news that the aircraft hit the truck. Even before the X Post was changed, Simple Flying had contacted American Airlines to confirm what had happened in the incident and to check how passengers had been accommodated. In an email, American Airlines (American) provided the writer with the following, including the additional information:

“Prior to departure on Feb. 18, a deicing truck made contact with American Airlines flight 576, with service from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) to Austin (AUS). The aircraft has been removed from service for inspection by our maintenance team. Safety is our top priority and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

Additional information:

• Customers later re-departed to AUS on a replacement aircraft.

• No reported injuries.

• The aircraft was parked when the truck made contact.

Within minutes of receiving that response Simple Flying requested more details and clarity about the incident and will update this story with any reply we receive from American.

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 final approach shutterstock_1674484681

Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock

How the passengers ultimately got to Austin

Tracking data from Flightradar24 shows that on February 18, American Airlines flight AA576 was scheduled to depart Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) at 20:00. The aircraft set to operate the service was a 2017 Boeing 737-800, registration N315PE and MSN 31261, which shows no further flight activity or departure from Dallas-Fort Worth.

On Tuesday, the Boeing 737-800 had flown into DFW as flight AA2060 from Liberia Guanacaste International Airport (LIR) in Costa Rica. It regularly operates four sectors daily, with recent return services from Miami (MIA) to Sint Maarten (SXM), New York (EWR), Belize City (BZE), and Liberia (LIR).

The tracking data shows that flight AA576 eventually departed from DFW at 03:34 on Wednesday and arrived at Austin Bergstrom International (AUS) at 04:16, around seven hours late. The aircraft used for the re-timed flight was a 2012 Boeing 737-800, registration N902NN and MSN 31154, which left Austin as flight AA2869 at 07:44.

American Airlines DFW-AUS

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American has plenty of Boeing 737-800s on duty

After a 2:55-hour flight, the 737-800 arrived at Los Angeles International (LAX) at 08:39 and then operated a return service from LAX to Nashville International Airport (BNA). Fleet data from ch-aviation shows that American has 372 Boeing 737s, including 303 737-800s and 69 737 MAX 8s. The balance of the fleet includes:

  • 133 Airbus A319-100s
  • 48 Airbus A320-200s and 218 Airbus A321-200s
  • 83 Airbus A321neos
  • 47 Boeing 777-200ERs and 20 Boeing 777-300ERs
  • 37 Boeing 787-8s and 22 Boeing 787-9s

The aircraft that sustained damage was first delivered to American Airlines on March 3, 2017, and according to ch-aviation, has a current market value of $32.6 million. The replacement aircraft (N920NN) was delivered on March 14, 2013, and is valued at $26.9 million.

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