Newly launched airline’s jet damaged due to freak accident
Tuesday, February 7th, 2017 5:08:01 by fatimaarshad
The newly launched Serene Air has already landed into trouble as one of its new planes was damaged by an errant pushback tug. According to the details of the incident provided, a pushback tug rammed into a waiting plane at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Monday, rendering the plane unfit to fly.
Soon after the accident happened, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), launched a probe into the matter. An official privy to the incident told reporters that Serene Air flight ER-500 had landed at the Islamabad airport from Karachi at around 10 am and was waiting to be parked. Soon after, a pushback tug coming to park the plane accidentally rammed into the aircraft’s hull. So far the cause of the accident is still unknown but the driver of the tug was immediately suspended. The tug was operated by Royal Airport Services.
According to the initial reports gathered by the CAA, the aircraft was damaged from the front, near the landing gear. The extent of damages is such, that the plane cannot operate till the time it is fully repaired.
A Serene Air spokesperson confirmed the accident and also told reporters that the airline’s flight schedule will be disrupted due to the damaged plane.
“A few of the immediate flights have been cancelled due to the incident,” the spokesperson said.
“It may take around a week to repair the damaged section of the plane and bring it back into service,” he said.
“It [the damaged aircraft] is a brand new Boeing [737-800] which we acquired a few weeks ago at a cost of $50 million,” the Serene Air spokesperson said.
Serene Air currently just has three aircrafts in its fleet, including the one that got damaged. The airline company started its operations on January 29 after the CAA granted it a license in October 2016.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54455
Posted by fatimaarshad
on Feb 7 2017. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan.
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