Safety fears as grounded plane struck

AIRPORT OFFICIALS yesterday sought to play down safety fears after ground staff crashed into and grounded a plane at Larnaca airport, the third such incident in two months.
The incident occurred at 3pm on Monday when staff of LGS Handling Limited drove an airport stair vehicle, used for boarding, into the open rear door of a Stockholm bound Airbus A330.
No one was injured in the collision but the airline, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, decided not to fly. The Aircraft’s 399 adult passengers and 20 infants were transferred to a hotel in Larnaca and departed on a different plane yesterday. An engineer flew from Norway to Cyprus on Monday night to fix the door.
Adamos Aspris, PR Manager for the airport operator Hermes said yesterday “This unfortunate event occurred when a vehicle of the company that offers services to the airline hit the door of the aircraft. The incident is being investigated by the relevant authorities, and the aircraft has already been fixed and taken off.”
The passengers arrived in Stockholm after a delay of 15.5 hours.
Asked about the cost of the incident, Torben Andersen, PR Manager for Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia said “This was very expensive. It cost at least €200,000, because we had to lease a new plane to fly over from Spain, to cover our two flights to Copenhagen, and pay for food and hotel for the passengers.”
The incident compounded an already bad day, in which a technical fault grounded a second Thomas Cook flight. Its 200 passengers were put up on the Golden Bay Beach Hotel in Larnaca.
The company is now waiting for the Accident Investigation Committee’s report to see whether it can claim insurance or take legal action.
Andersen said that his company had not had any similar incidents with LGS before. “This is the result of human failure, and it can happen on any day.”
Androulla Christodoulou, Manager of Civil Aviation Department at Larnaca Airport, agreed that such incidents of human error are an inevitable fact of airport life. “The only way to have no accidents is to have no planes. Accidents like this occur in all airports, and they will continue to occur because of the human factor.”
It is, however, the third incident of human failure involving the ground staff at Larnaca airport, and has caused alarm among some Cypriot aviation officials.
Costas Orphanos, Head of the Air Accident Investigation Committee said yesterday “I am surprised by the news (of this incident) but we cannot comment until we know all the details. We expect the report tomorrow or Thursday.”
An informed source within Hermes Airports was more forthcoming about the level of professionalism shown yesterday.
“A message has gone to all staff saying Hermes expects high levels of professionalism, and not this kind of performance, but they (LGS) have their own training.”
Christodoulou said that responsibility also rests with the company. “We will make some investigations, but it is the responsibility of the company to ensure staff are well trained and equipment is adequate.”
Asked if the incident rate could be alcohol related, the Hermes source said “I haven’t heard anything to suggest the driver was drunk. We understand that accidents happen, but this does not justify such developments with such frequency. It definitely does not provide any excuse and we are not going to compromise. The goal is to avoid accidents.”
In March two collisions between aircraft and ground handling vehicles occurred. The first one involved an Airbus 330, which was being towed to the company hangar when it hit a parked ground services vehicle. In the second incident the wing of an Airbus 319 was hit by a luggage loading vehicle while on the terminal preparing for take off.
In August 2008, Swissport and LGS were fined €53,000 and €59,000 respectively after a series of alleged failures in carrying out efficient passenger services.