Following the accident of DHL flight D07216 in San José, Costa Rica, the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) will close on Wednesday and Thursday (April 13 and 14) for five hours to remove the debris from the crash.

Closing the airport

Aeris, the Juan Santamaría International Airport administrator in San José, Costa Rica, announced it would close the takeoff and landing runway to remove the damaged Boeing 757-200 freighter from DHL. The closures will occur between midnight and 05:00 on Wednesday and Thursday.

The aircraft crash-landed in San José last week after it reported a problem with the left hydraulic landing gear. There were no casualties due to the accident, in which the DHL cargo aircraft touched down and skidded on a collapsed left-landing gear.

As reported by local media outlets, Ricardo Hernández, General Director of Aeris, said,

“The operation has continued normally since the day of the incident. We have been as expeditious as possible to efficiently apply the procedures in these situations, resuming runway operations as soon as possible. We work intensely together with the authorities to safely remove the aircraft.”

In order to remove the 22.3-year-old Boeing 757-200, the team has to stabilize the broken parts of the aircraft, place it on a flat site and unload the cargo it was carrying. So far, the load in the tail section has already been removed. During both days, there will be “mobilization work on the accident aircraft in the green area south of the kilo taxiway,” said Aeris.

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GettyImages-1239816637 DHL Accident in Costa Rica Boeing 757-200
Photo: Getty Images.

How much will the runway closure impact SJO’s operations?

Closing the only runway in San José, Costa Rica, will obviously have an impact on the passengers and airlines flying out of the airport.

According to Aeris, eight commercial flights and six cargo services will be impacted by the closure of the runway.

On April 13, the impacted airlines and flights will be:

  1. JetBlue flights JBU1793 and JBU1794 to and from New York
  2. Aeromexico flights AMX0656 and AMX0657 to and from Mexico City
  3. United Airlines flight UAL1682 to Houston
  4. LATAM Cargo L1803 and L1804 from Miami
  5. DHL flights DAE230 and DAE5232.

On April 14, the impacted airlines and flights will be:

  1. Aeromexico flights AMX0656 and AMX0657 to and from Mexico City
  2. United Airlines UAL1682 to Houston
  3. DHL flights DAE230 and DAE5232.

On average, San José International Airport has between 54 and 59 daily flights on Wednesdays and Thursdays, according to data provided by Cirium.

Who will participate in the accident investigation?

As is the case with every civil aviation accident globally, there will be an official investigation launched by Costa Rica. In this investigation, the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) from the United States will participate because Boeing, a US-based company, manufactured the aircraft.

The DHL aircraft had a Panamanian registration, HP-2010DAE, meaning Panama’s civil aviation authorities will also participate in the investigation procedures.

DHL will also coordinate with the airport and local authorities throughout the accident investigation. We can expect a preliminary report within the next 30 days and a final report, which could be published next year. However, there is no official timeline established for the release of this final report.

What are your thoughts on DHL’s accident in San José, Costa Rica? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: QCostaRica.