Bird strike leads to string of CY delays

A BIRD STRIKE on a Cyprus Airways aircraft landing in Greece on Thursday went on to cause long delays for passengers.

A bird collided with the A-320 type aircraft during the landing of Thursday morning’s flight to Macedonia Airport in Thessaloniki .The bird strike had no effect on the flight, nor was felt it by the passengers. But Cyprus Airways Spokesman Kyriacos Kyriacou told the Cyprus Mail that, “the bird strike caused damage to parts of the rostrum of the aircraft, forcing it to be grounded”, leading to delays (some very long) that started on Thursday on most Cyprus Airways flights.

A CY flight scheduled for Heathrow changed its schedule and transferred necessary bulky spare parts from Larnaca to Thessaloniki for repair and then took off for Heathrow. However, at the same time at Larnaca Airport, a second A320 Cyprus Airways aircraft was grounded for technical operations and controls.

This more or less changed the flight schedule of the day, with almost half of the 20 scheduled take-offs from Larnaca, resulting in delays up to four hours. “Flights left for Athens with three to four hours delay, and flights to Thessaloniki with one hour delays,” Kyriacou said.

“The company has been careful in all cases of extensive delays to give the passengers an appropriate food and beverage and the people that missed their connecting flight to Greek islands were offered free accommodation at hotels,” Kyriacou added.

Bird strikes happen most often during take off or landing, or during low altitude flight. However, bird strikes have also been reported at high altitudes, some as high as 6,000 to 9,000 meters above ground level. The majority of bird collisions occur near or on airports during takeoff, landing and associated phases.