An Emirates Airbus A380 superjumbo was damaged at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on Monday after an airbridge collided with one of the double-decker plane’s four engines.
It’s not clear how the accident occurred, although there is the possibility that the pilots accidentally drove the massive jetliner into the airbridge as they were parking at the gate.
The aircraft had just landed in Paris following an overnight flight from Dubai and parked at the gate at around 9:35 am on July 22. Unsurprisingly, the return flight to Dubai had to be cancelled and the plane remains stranded in Paris.
Photos and video shared on social media showed airport emergency services inspecting the damage, although it’s not believed that any of the passengers or crew were injured in the accident.
Unfortunately, this is the second Emirates A380 to have sustained pretty significant damage during an aircraft ground incident in recent months.
In March, another of the airline’s superjumbos was damaged when an airport ground services vehicle at Moscow Domodedovo Airport somehow became became wedged underneath the plane as it was preparing for its return flight to Dubai.
The question which immediately arose following that accident was how would Emirates get its plane fixed and airworthy again given Western sanctions against Russia which prevents the country importing spare aircraft parts.
In the end, Emirates managed to patch up the plane to such an extent that it was able to ferry the aircraft back to Dubai just several days after it was struck by the airport water truck.
Thankfully, the damage wasn’t as bad as what it first seemed and the aircraft was placed back into commercial service just a few days later.
Although the damage to the aircraft engine in Monday’s incident looks serious, it should be relatively easy for engineers to fix and the aircraft will likely be flying within days.
