Swiss to repair hard landing-damaged Avro RJ100
Victoria Moores, Zurich (21Sep07, 18:17 GMT, 240 words)
Swiss International Air Lines and its insurers have decided to repair the BAE Systems Avro RJ100 which was heavily damaged in a hard landing incident at London City airport last month.
The aircraft is a seven-year old example registered HB-IYU owned by Zurich-based Anson Aircraft. It was operating from Geneva with 93 passengers and crew when it made the hard landing on 18 August.
A Swiss International Air Lines spokesman says: “The final decision has been taken to repair it.”
Early evaluations suggest that the repair work will take approximately 14 weeks, says the spokesman, although he declines to comment on the cost of the work.
He says the aircraft suffered a tail scrape, cracks and severe damage during the landing, but declined to comment further on the cause which is subject to an ongoing investigation.
Due to space and maintenance constraints at London City airport, which is located on the river Thames, the aircraft must be moved off-airport to perform the repair work.
The spokesman says it will soon be towed onto a marine pontoon and floated a short distance along the river to the north Royal Dock area.
“Security-wise everything is being prepared. We are going to build a special hangar for the aircraft,” he says. “The exact date for the move is not yet known, but we will perform the repair on the spot. The aircraft has been released; we can do what we want with it.”
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news