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A flight operated by Virgin Atlantic, scheduled to depart from Manchester and arrive at New York’s JFK airport, was cancelled prior to take-off due to a passenger’s observation of faulty bolts on one of the wings.
On 15 January, Flight VS127 was unable to depart due to a passenger noticing that four fasteners were missing from a wing panel. The flight was subsequently cancelled so that engineers could conduct an extra inspection of the plane.
Virgin Atlantic and Airbus both stated that the safety of the aircraft was not affected. According to a spokesperson from Airbus, the panel in question is utilized to enhance the aerodynamic capabilities of the aircraft.
The Airbus A330 has 119 fasteners on each wing panel. Despite only four being missing, the structural integrity and load capacity of the wing were not affected, ensuring the aircraft was safe to operate.
However, the airline decided to cancel the flight in order to conduct extra maintenance checks as a precautionary measure. As a result, passengers were rerouted to JFK on different flights.
A representative from Virgin Atlantic stated that the well-being of our passengers and crew is our utmost concern and was never compromised.
“Our team consistently exceeds safety standards in the industry and the plane has been restored to operation. We would like to express our apologies to our customers for the delay in their travels.”
The flight cancellation occurred shortly after a Virgin Atlantic plane had to return to Manchester Airport only 20 minutes into its journey to Barbados due to reports of smoke in the cockpit.
It also follows the dramatic incident on board an Alaska Airlines flight in which a panel blew off the side of a Boeing 737 Max 9. The Max 9 aircraft have been grounded since the incident on 5 January.
Source: independent.co.uk
