A Boeing 737-800, registered 9A-LAB and operated by Croatia’s ACMI specialist ETF Airways, sustained critical harm throughout a hailstorm within the Argentinian metropolis of Cordoba on January 1. The severity of the affect has left the plane grounded ever since. The province of Cordoba skilled excessive climate circumstances on New Yr’s Day, with winds reaching as much as seventy kilometres per hour, heavy rainfall and intense hail. The storm resulted in a single fatality and brought on widespread harm to autos and infrastructure, together with disruptions to the electrical energy provide. Upkeep groups have since been working to revive the plane to service; nevertheless, the harm sustained has been in depth, considerably complicating efforts to return it to an airworthy situation.
ETF Airways has wet-leased its whole fleet of three Boeing 737-800 plane to low price provider Flybondi since December. All three jets are based mostly in Cordoba, central Argentina, beneath an settlement that runs till the top of the southern hemisphere’s summer time season in late March. ETF Airways has additionally recruited Spanish-speaking pilots to function from the area. The absence of 1 plane since January 1, following the hailstorm harm, has created notable operational challenges for Flybondi, resulting in a collection of flight cancellations and delays throughout its community.
ETF Airways has beforehand confronted misfortune with the plane in query. In 2021, the plane skilled a wildlife strike whereas touchdown at Bremen airport on a flight from Pristina. Throughout the touchdown roll, a wild rabbit on or close to the runway was sucked into one of many plane’s engines. The plane’s left engine suffered sufficient harm from the rabbit ingestion that it was thought-about unsafe to fly. That compelled ETF Airways to interchange the engine and floor the plane for about twelve days whereas repairs and leasing substitute plane have been organized. ETF Airways estimated the full price of the incident, together with engine substitute, repairs and leasing different planes to cowl its schedule, at round a million euros. The airline’s CEO publicly accused Bremen Airport of negligence, saying wildlife was capable of entry the airfield due to holes within the perimeter fencing. ETF Airways introduced intentions to hunt compensation from the airport authority.
