In a rather bizarre situation at Barcelona-El Prat International Airport (BCN), a ground vehicle found itself stuck underneath the belly of a Boeing 737-800. Reports suggest that the driver failed to apply the handbrake when exiting, resulting in the vehicle rolling under the plane and finding itself wedged in between. Let's find out more.
Inactive brakes
According to details from Ioca Aeroportuaria, the incident occurred at Barcelona Airport earlier this evening, at roughly 21:00 local time. The aircraft in question is a Transavia France Boeing 737-800, which operated from BCN to Paris Orly and was parked at Terminal 2. At the time of writing, the aircraft registration remains unclear.
Reports suggest that the ground vehicle was originally parked close to the aircraft, with the driver exiting without applying the handbrake. This allowed the car to roll forward and gently find itself stuck under the aft aircraft fuselage, as can be seen in the images below. This likely caused some damage to the aircraft body, although the extent remains unclear at this time.
Many have commented that the incident may have been due to the lack of procedure followed by operators. While most drivers know to apply the handbrake when parking, especially anywhere remotely with an incline, there are strict rules for ground vehicles near aircraft. However, we will only know more once an investigation has been carried out.
Simple Flying has reached out to Transavia for comment and will update the article once one is available.
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Transavia's fleet
Those familiar with Transavia (Netherlands or France) will have already guessed the aircraft type involved in the incident. The carrier's French subsidiary operates a fleet of 60 Boeing 737-800s, all but five of which are currently active. The Dutch arm operates another 39 737s but with four -700s and 35 -800s. Both carriers are part of the Air France-KLM Group and are the low-cost subsidiaries.
All aircraft are laid out in the same 3-3 layout, with 189 seats in total, with a tight 29-30" of pitch, according to SeatGuru. Be sure to try to score an exit row or front row on this aircraft, although you will have to pay, given its budget status.
Big 2023 planned
However, don't think Transavia France is done growing yet. The carrier plans to increase its fleet size to 70 by this summer, adding another 10 aircraft. This will include the introduction of the A320neo to its fleet, a part of Air France-KLM's massive order for the narrowbody in December 2021.
These ten aircraft will be kept busy too, with the carrier launching 20 new routes last winter and planning to add more Turkish destinations to its route map this April. This will include Antalya and Izmir in April as it doubles down on the country.
Source: SeatGuru