Airbus Updates No.3718

 British Airways A350 Damaged In Heathrow Tail Strike

A British Airways A350 scored a trip to the London Heathrow Maintenance hangar after landing at the airport on Sunday afternoon. G-XWBC had to go around after attempting to land on runway 27L. A tailstrike prompted the go-around and led to the temporary closure of the runway.

A British Airways A350 (exact registration not pictured) was damaged during a tail strike at the weekend. Photo: Vincenzo Pace – Simple Flying

While best avoided, tail strikes do happen from time to time. When this does happen, it could mean anything from a little bit of scratched paintwork to structural damage. While some aircraft had inbuilt measures to defend against tail strikes, this isn’t the case for many newer jets once they leave the testing phase.

Airbus A350 damaged in London

On Sunday, G-XWBC was landing in London following flight BA 104 from Dubai. While the flight appears to have largely taken place without incident, it was noticeable that the aircraft went around at Heathrow and then landed on the airport’s other runway. We now know that the plane experienced a tail strike landing on Heathrow’s Runway 27L, which prompted the go-around.

Following the tailstrike, the aircraft landed safely on Runway 27R a short while later. The incident led to 27L being closed to landing aircraft a short while later while an inspection was carried out. G-XWBC landed at around 14:43. At roughly the same time, the Heathrow Noise Twitter account confirmed that a runway change would be taking place due to “circumstances beyond our control”.

Commenting on the incident, a British Airways spokesperson told Simple Flying,

“The aircraft landed safely and customers and crew have all disembarked.”

Not the first BA A350 incident

This isn’t the first time a British Airways Airbus A350 has been involved in an incident. G-XWBD was damaged in an Airbus hangar before it was even delivered. In January 2020, the aircraft experienced a hard landing in Tel Aviv. Some worried that G-XWBD might be cursed after it experienced a third incident just a month later. While landing in Toronto, the aircraft reported a hydraulic failure. Thankfully, it seems that the plane isn’t cursed after all, as all flights with it since have been completed without incident.

G-XWBD isn’t the only British Airways A350 to have suffered an incident. Like G-XWBC on Sunday, G-XWBA has also experienced an incident during a Dubai rotation. In April 2020, G-XWBA was being pushed back when its vertical stabilizer cut into that of an Emirates Boeing 777. The aircraft remained on the ground in Dubai until the damage had been repaired.

Airbus Updates No.2827

 

British Airways Gears Up To Take Delivery Of Seventh Airbus A350

British Airways is gearing up to take delivery of its seventh Airbus A350 aircraft. As the next aircraft to be delivered, G-XWBG completed a customer acceptance flight from Toulouse yesterday.

British Airways is gearing up for the delivery of its seventh Airbus A350-1000. Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying

Yesterday Airbus revealed that it had delivered 38 passenger aircraft during August, while Boeing delivered four. Due to the current situation, many airlines have been seeking to delay outstanding aircraft deliveries. After all, why take an aircraft that they can’t use right away? Thankfully, British Airways has been putting its new widebody fleet to good use, with deliveries continuing despite the current situation.

Customer acceptance flight

An essential step in the delivery of any new aircraft is the customer acceptance flight. This is akin to test driving a car before buying it. The customer acceptance flight allows pilots of the intended delivery customer to see how the aircraft flies. This also gives them an option to have any apparent issues rectified before delivery.

The customer acceptance flight for G-XWBG, BA’s seventh A350, took place yesterday morning. Currently registered as F-WZGM, the aircraft took to the skies at 09:59, according to FlightRadar24.com. The plane climbed to 41,000 feet in several steps. The aircraft then took a tour above France, passing over Bordeaux and Poitiers.

G-XWBG’s customer acceptance flight took over two hours. Image: FlightRadar24.com

Following an hour-long cruise, the aircraft descended in several steps while making a wide loop of Toulouse. After a circuit of the airfield, the A350-1000 touched back down in Toulouse at 12:21, two hours, and 21 minutes after departure.

British Airways’ seventh Airbus A350 delivery

Despite the first aircraft being delivered just over a year ago, the British Airways A350 fleet is growing nicely. The airline has a total of 18 A350-1000 on order. With the delivery of the seventh imminent, the airline will have received almost two-fifths of its planned deliveries. According to data from AIB Family, aircraft were delivered as follows:

• G-XWBA – July 27th, 2019
• G-XWBB – September 19th, 2019
• G-XWBC – November 26th, 2019
• G-XWBD – December 23rd, 2019
• G-XWBE – February 12th, 2020
• G-XWBF – May 20th, 2020
• G-XWBG – Delivery imminent
• G-XWBH – Fuselage assembled

Put straight to work

Many airlines have been delaying aircraft deliveries due to the current situation. Take ANA, for example. Except for the odd ‘flight to nowhere,’ the airline’s existing A380s have lied dormant since late March. If the existing fleet is not flying, why add to it?

British Airways has been putting its new aircraft straight to fair use. Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying

British Airways, on the other hand, has been putting its aircraft straight to use. Let us take a look at the three most recent deliveries. G-ZBLA and G-ZBLB were the first two Boeing 787-10s delivered to British Airways earlier this summer. While the aircraft haven’t been carrying passengers, they have already been hard at work shuttling cargo between Dallas and Seattle, and London.

Meanwhile, G-XWBF, the last A350 to be delivered, has been operating cargo flights across the British Airways A350 network. As IAG Cargo doesn’t have its own planes, British Airways aircraft have been used to keep cargo routes open.

Airbus Updates No.2360

Airbus A321	-231	1950		TC-ETV	AtlasGlobal	ferried 27nov19 IST-AMM on return to lessor	ex EI-LVA
Airbus A321	-211	5603		C-FTXQ	Air Transat	seen regd at SNN 26nov19 prior delivery & paint (+ 6515 C-GTZX ex OE-IEI)	ex OE-IDS
Airbus A321	-211	6468		OY-TCI	Sunclass Airlines	delivery 29nov19 LFBF-CPH	ex EI-GRC
Airbus A321	-211	6548		C-FTXZ	Air Transat	regd 26nov19, delivery 27nov19 SNN-YUL	ex OE-IDF
Airbus A321	-251NX	8946		CS-TJP	TAP Air Portugal	delivery 28nov19 XFW-LIS	ex D-AVZA
Airbus A321	-271NX	9044		TC-LSM	Turkish Airlines	delivery 28nov19 XFW-IST	ex D-AYAP
Airbus A321	-271N	9059		VN-A531	VietJet Air	delivery 27-28nov19 XFW-AZI-SGN	ex D-AVZB
Airbus A321	-251NX	9204		G-UZMG	easyJet	delivery 26nov19 XFW-LGW	ex D-AZAL
Airbus A321	-253NXLR	9224		N412UW	American Airlines	delivery 29nov19 BFM-CLT	ex F-WZMT
Airbus A330	-322	96		9H-AGU	HiFly Malta	ferried 28nov19 BRU-CDT, for part-out & scrap	ex EI-FSP
Airbus A330	-342	99		B-HLC	Cathay Dragonex	ferried 27-28nov19 HKG-DWC-LETL, for part-out & scrap	ex VR-HLC
Airbus A330	-243	287		A9C-KD	Gulf Air	ferried 29nov19 BAH-DGX, for part-out & scrap	ex A4O-KD
Airbus A330	-342	679		OO-SFH	Brussels Airlines	delivery 26nov19 HKG-AMM	ex B-LAC
Airbus A330	-243	729		A6-EYH	Etihad Airways	ferried 26nov19 AUH-LETL, for storage (+ 1486 A6-EYT)	ex F-WWKR
Airbus A330	-343	965		EI-GPJ	I-Fly	delivery 28nov19 BOD-VKO	ex F-OONE
Airbus A350	-941	358		SE-RSA	SAS	delivery 29nov19 TLS-CPH, new cs	ex F-WZHJ
Airbus A350	-1041	362		G-XWBC	British Airways	delivery 26nov19 TLS-LHR	ex F-WZFK
Airbus A350	-941	366		EC-NGT	Iberia	delivery 27nov19 TLS-MAD	ex F-WZGM
Airbus Canada A220	-371	55065		VP-BMZ	GTLK Europe	delivery 28nov19 YMX-MST	ex C-FOWF