Back on June 17th, an ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 struck an Air France Boeing 777-200 while taxiing for departure. Unaware that it had done so, the A330 continued with its takeoff and completed its flight to Rome. The A330 safely arrived in Rome while the 777 remained on the ground at JFK for weeks. Today we'll offer a brief update on the incident with the limited information we know.
Incident background
Just over two months ago, an ITA Airways A330-200 (still in Alitalia livery) was taxiing towards the runway at JFK to perform flight AZ611 from New York to Rome Fiumicino. Along the way, the jet struck an Air France Boeing 777-200. While the crew of the ITA Airways A330 was apparently unaware of the incident, the Air France pilots contacted ATC, attempting to notify the ITA aircraft and keep it on the ground.
By the time the situation was understood by ATC, the A330 was already in the air and on its way across the Atlantic. When contacted by ATC, the ITA Airways pilots denied being involved in any kind of incident. While no official reports have been released, we thought it would be good to check back on this incident to see what happened to the aircraft involved.
The ITA Airways A330
The Airbus A330 safely made its way across the Atlantic and landed at Rome Fiumicino on June 18th. The aircraft arrived slightly later than was scheduled, touching down at 12:36 local time rather than 12:15. According to reporting from ABC News, upon landing in Rome, wing damage was discovered on the A330.
Details of the specific damage and its severity were not disclosed, but we do know that this ITA Airways aircraft, registered EI-EJL, spent the entirety of June 19th on the ground. However, the following day, on June 20th, the jet was conducting a flight from Rome to Tel Aviv. Considering the fact that the jet has flown every single day before and after the incident, with only a few hours of downtime between services, this full-day pause in operations would give us a hint that some work needed to be done on the aircraft.
Over July and August, this aircraft has spent most of its time flying to and from Rome to the destinations of New York, JFK, and Miami. It has also operated the occasional service to Sao Paulo.
The Air France 777
The Air France Boeing 777-200 didn't get away so easily. In fact, the aircraft registered F-GSPQ spent almost a month on the ground at New York JFK, finally departing on July 12th as special flight AFR384V.
The length of time spent on the ground at a foreign airport leads us to believe that the extent of the damage was severe. Alternatively, this amount of downtime may also have been the result of supply chain issues and an inability to secure replacement components in a timely manner - or perhaps, this was a combination of both factors.
Simple Flying reached out to Air France, inquiring about the extent of the damage and why the aircraft spent such a long time at JFK. A spokesperson responded without much detail, telling us:
"The plane remained on the ground at JFK while it was being repaired and has been back at CDG since mid-July to resume flights immediately."
Very few sources reporting on the incident have discussed the specific damage sustained due to the collision. However, in a small note on the aircraft's record page at Planespotters.net states that the jet sustained "damage to the right horizontal stabilizer."
We'll continue to keep an eye out for the official report if and when it is made public.
Are you surprised by the amount of time Boeing 777-200 spent on the ground at JFK? Share your opinions by leaving a comment!
Source: ABC News, FlightRadar24.com, Planespotters.net